


Have a Seat (While I Take to the Sky)

by umisabaku



Series: Designation: Miracle [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-16 21:24:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5841490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umisabaku/pseuds/umisabaku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hinata never once felt like he should tell his teammates that he has superpowers and he doesn’t think of it as keeping a secret so much as not telling people unimportant details."</p><p>--</p><p>Six years ago, Hinata escaped from the lab that created him and never looked back. (Until he has to.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Присядь (Пока я парю в небесах)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8048755) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account)
  * Translation into Español available: [Toma Asiento (Mientras Llego al Cielo)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13451118) by [LunaP95](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaP95/pseuds/LunaP95)



> This is the Haikyuu! companion story to my Kuroko no Basuke fic "Don't Blink You'll Miss It (Lift Up Your Head)." Absolutely no knowledge of KnB is necessary to read this fic, and it is *designed* to be read as a stand alone, so you don't need to have read "Don't Blink You'll Miss It" 
> 
> It's an AU loosely, so incredibly loosely, inspired by the 2000-2001 TV show Dark Angel. "Don't Blink You'll Miss It" provides a much more complete explanation for the world, and reading this one first will spoil certain things that happen in that one (and uh, vice versa.)
> 
> I honestly don't think any Archive warnings apply, and I avoid tags because of spoilers, but there are some dark elements to the story that if you're worried about, you can read in the end notes.
> 
> Title is taken from "Take to the Sky" by Tori Amos.
> 
> OK! That's it! I hope you enjoy! =)

This is a story about kindness.

It is a love story; full of the sadness, hope, death, warmth, and determination that all good love stories should have.

But above all, this is a story about kindness.

And it is a story about fate.

*

Orange wakes up and knows that he should not have.

He should be dead; they killed him. He watched them jab the needle in his veins, he kicked and screamed but it did no good. He slipped into unconsciousness knowing this was the last thing he’d see: his makers, his killers, their clinical resolve that he should die.

(He slipped into darkness hearing his maker say, _“This is the best, 394. You might be a failure, but you’ll contribute to the betterment of future Projects. Good bye, 394.”_ It was the end; he knew it was the end.)

But he wakes; he breathes. Against all odds, he is alive.

*

(If he had been raised with some concept of the afterlife, he might not have so readily accepted the fact that he was alive. Had he known what “hell” was, he would have woken convinced that he was there.

He wakes in a trash heap, amidst the dismembered body parts of other failed Projects. There was smoke, thick with ash and repugnant with death. There was a furnace nearby, where he and the parts were slated to go.

Later in his life he would learn of “hell”—sees illustrations in books, and he would think, that’s it. I was there.)

*

He wakes when he doesn’t expect to; he’s alive with a determination to keep living.

His wrist throbs from the needle that killed him; something has been cut from his neck (the explosive device, Orange thinks); something else cut from his side (tracking device). He’s bruised where they held him down.

But he is alive.

So he staggers to his feet and he obeys his nature: he jumps. He easily scales the walls that penned him in all his life. He staggers and stumbles but runs and jumps and he keeps running and jumping, leaving his old life behind.

*

When he’s far away from the place that made him he still moves as fast as he can. There is no one chasing him, but he doesn’t believe that. He’s sure they will find him and kill him and cut him apart

It’s night—he is barefoot, and wearing only the thin white over-shirt they killed him in. But his feet are calloused and strong; he is a genetically superior being (even if he is a failed one) so he lasts much longer than he should.

But he’s cold. And scared. And he’s running out of energy. When he can no longer jump far or high, he settles on running.

When he can no longer run he keeps walking. He already knows that when he can no longer walk, he’ll crawl. He’ll do everything he can to keep moving forward.

*

For the rest of his life he will hate the word “miracle.”

Even when Hinata Sawako laughs and says, “You were our miracle!” he will still hate the word.

Hinata Sawako believes it _was_ a miracle. Hinata Kousei calls it luck—beautiful luck, but coincidence nonetheless.

Orange believes it was fate.

(There was another Project who would talk about “fate” and “destiny”—and he always sounded so _sure._ Orange was convinced at an early age that destiny existed.)

Because coincidence upon coincidence piled up to make the miracle that is Hinata Shouyou’s life.

So Orange 394 believes it was fate.

Hinata Shouyou does too.

*

The fact remains that it was all so miraculously coincidental, even the most skeptical of people might believe in divine intervention.

The Hinatas were driving home that day, quietly depressed. They were each thinking about the fact that they were still childless but they were each hesitant to bring it up (again) with their spouse.

Hinata Kousei was thinking about how much he hated his orange hair.

It had plagued him all his life. He was genetically more Caucasian than Japanese, so he’d always been mistaken for a foreigner, despite the fact that he was born and raised and had never left Japan. His great grandfather had married a blonde haired woman, their son had also married blonde woman; Kousei’s father, only a quarter Japanese, had married a Scottish ginger haired woman, thus giving Kousei the legacy that had plagued him all his life.

The only time he ever liked his orange hair was when he’d met Sawako. It had been snowing that day and he’d tripped and fallen in a huge pile of snow. Sawako had pulled him out, laughing. “I saw your hair in the snow! It was like a beacon!”

But now it was his plague once again. After so many years without children, he was ready to adopt, he _wanted_ to adopt. But the last time he had broached the subject with his wife, she had cried and said, “But I always pictured my children with orange hair. A little boy and a little girl, who look just like you.”

She had sobbed so hard he didn’t dare bring up adoption again, despite the fact that Kousei was ready to be father, wanted it above all things.

So he was thinking about how much he hated his orange hair, and how there wasn’t any guarantee his children would have had orange hair anyway.

*

Hinata Sawako was thinking about the son they had lost. The closest they’d ever come to a child. She’d miscarried after six months, and almost died in the process.

Her husband had been so kind, so loving. She too, was thinking it was time to bring up adoption—there were so many children in this world who needed love, and she had so much love to give.

Her thoughts kept circling back to the son she had never had the chance to love, and she stared out the window as she did.

Because of that, she saw Orange first.

She screamed, thinking she saw a ghost. She made her husband pull over on the near-abandoned country road. He grumbled as he did so, but then he too saw Orange and he fell silent, his eyes wide.

Husband and wife shared a look, making sure each one was seeing what the other was seeing.

*

They see a boy; a small boy, barefoot, haggard, bruised, wearing a too thin shirt. He is alone at night, in the cold. They see a child with bright orange hair; a child who needs help.

*

Orange sees adults; and in his life, adults have only ever been the authority of Teiko. He sees a man with hair the same color as his own, and he thinks he must be from one of the older Generations. (He’s never seen one of the older Orange Threes. He didn’t think there were any still alive.)

He thinks they must be here to kill him, or bring him back. He turns to run.

*

“Wait!” Sawako yells, her heart beating fast, so fast. Something miraculous is happening, and she’s both afraid and excited, but above all, she is desperate to talk to this boy; to take him to a safe place.

“Are you hungry?” she calls.

The boy stills.

*

Orange _is_ hungry.

The woman steps forward, smiling. “We have meat buns in our car. And onigiri. Would you like some?”

“Are you from Teiko?” he asks warily.

“Teiko? No, I don’t know what that is.”

Orange takes a chance. He’s hungry and eating will replenish his strength.

He doesn’t get in the car, but he waits to the side as they bring him the food. He wolfs it down, eyeing them all the while, legs poised to jump.

“I’m Hinata Sawako. This is my husband, Kousei. What’s your name?”

He knows _of_ spouses, he’s heard the scientists reference families. He knows people _have_ names, even though they’re never used inside the walls of Teiko.

“I’m 394,” he offers, since that’s the closest thing he has to a name. “GM-O394. My Generation calls me Orange.”

The man and the woman look at each other.

Orange lifts up his shirt to reveal the brand **GM-O394** that’s on the inside of his right thigh, as his proof of identity.

The woman—Sawako—sucks in a breath and covers her mouth. Kousei looks very serious, and he kneels down in front of Orange. “Do you have parents?”

“Nope!” Orange says, proud that he knows what “parents” are (he’d asked the lunch lady, once. He’s sure the _other_ Projects wouldn’t know.) “I was made by Teiko. They’re going to kill me, though, they’re already tried. I don’t want to go back there.”

“Made,” the man repeats.

“The Orange Threes are meant to fly. Are you an Orange Three?”

“No,” Kousei says. “I’m Scottish Japanese.”

Orange nods his head, even though he has no idea what that means. He was pretty sure the man _wasn’t_ an Orange Three.

“Are you saying you can fly, um, Orange-kun?”

“No,” Orange says sadly. “But I can jump!”

And then, to prove it to them, he glows orange and jumps to the sky.

*

The view from the top is something Orange will never tire of seeing. It’s like he can see the whole world—wide and brilliant without any limitations. He hovers in the sky for forty seconds (all he can manage when he’s near exhaustion) and then makes his descent.

*

Kousei and Sawako know they are seeing something extraordinary, something miraculous.

But they also know, from the brand on his thigh, from his bruises, from the easy way he said “they’ll kill me,” that they’re dealing with something dangerous. This is a world they’ve never known, and it could be deadly.

They share a look. They don’t hesitate once.

Sawako smiles. “That was amazing, Orange-kun! It was like you were soaring in the sky. I know! We should call you ‘Shouyou.’ Would you like that?”

“Shouyou,” Orange repeats. “You mean, like a name?”

“Yes, exactly a name.”

“I like it! Shouyou,” Orange repeats, beaming. A name! He had a name!

“Would you like to come home with us, Shouyou?” Kousei asks.

“Sure, you’re nice!”

And from that day on, he stops being Orange, and becomes Hinata Shouyou.

*

His life changes. The Hinatas move to Miyagi Prefecture, where no one will know them enough to wonder why they suddenly have a ten year old.

(They didn’t believe him, at first, when he said he was ten, because he was so small.

“I _am_ ten,” he said. “As of today! That’s why they decided to scrap me today. At ten, it’s usually pretty clear if you’re going to be a Success or not, so that’s when they decide if you’re worth keeping around.”

They don’t question his age after that.)

Like most children, Hinata doesn’t realize how much his parents sacrificed to keep him until much later. They uprooted their entire lives, got new jobs, made a few black market deals to get him added to the family registry, to get him identification, no questions asked. From then on, their biggest fear will be that someone will take their son away from them.

Hinata has a new name, a warm house, people who love him. He has the vague fear that Teiko might come looking for him, but he never thinks too hard about it.

They only thing he misses is jumping.

“You can never, ever, use your ability, Shouyou,” Kousei explains in his sternest voice. “Even if you think no one is around—someone _might_ be. And if they see you, they could take you away from us. Promise me.”

But between jumping and his new parents, it was obvious which he was afraid of losing more. “I promise.”

“And you must promise not to tell anyone about what you can do, or where you come from,” Sawako adds.

At the time, it was the easier promise to make. “I promise I won’t ever tell.”

*

Like many childless couples who adopt, they almost immediately afterwards had a child.

When Kousei meets his orange-haired daughter, he sends a prayer to the gods. Because they’ll look like a family, this way. No one will ever suspect that Hinata isn’t his biological son.

Sawako only thinks about how blessed she is, to have her two orange haired children after all, a boy and a girl. She vows to herself to make sure that Hinata never feels any less loved for not being their biological child.

Hinata meets his tiny sister in awe. _This_ is where babies come from? This is how they look? They’re so small!

“You're a big brother now, Shouyou,” Sawako says.

“Big brother,” Hinata repeats.

He likes the sound of that.

*

When he rides home from school one day he catches a volleyball match on TV. It stops him in his tracks, and he watches in hushed wonder.

Then he pedals home faster than he ever had before, bursts through the door and shouts at his mom, “Mom! Mom, have you ever heard of volleyball?”

“Shou-kun?”

“Or the Small Giant? Or Karasuno? Mom, the Small Giant _jumps like I do!_ ”

Because he doesn’t use his ability anymore, but that doesn’t stop his Latent Overflow. He can jump higher than normal humans even when he’s not activating his power, and it makes his mother nervous.

“Shou-kun—”

“I want to play volleyball,” he announces. “They can jump like me even though they’re small, and no one thinks it’s weird. Can I, Mom? Can I? Please?”

Sawako hesitates. Volleyball could mean media attention, if Hinata was good at it (and like any mother, she naturally assumed her son _would_ be good at it) and she didn’t want anyone looking too closely into Hinata’s life.

But on the other hand, her son had incredible amounts of energy, and maybe playing a sport would give him an outlet for that.

“Alright, we can look into the rules.”

“Ya-hoo!” Hinata yells, jumping up.

*

It comforts Sawako a great deal to know that her son’s middle school doesn’t have a boys’ volleyball club. Now, he can play all he wants and never attract attention.

*

Two important things happen to Hinata when he’s in middle school.

First, other Miracles escape Teiko, publicly, alerting the world to the presence of superpowered children.

Second, he meets Kageyama Tobio.

*

The Miracles escape towards the beginning of middle school. His whole family sits glued in front of the television, wide-eyed and silent, as the breaking news unfolds. Even Natsu, who is only two, senses something is very serious. She sits on Hinata’s lap, as somber as the rest of them.

“Shou-kun, do you know them?” Sawako asks.

Hinata nods. “They were in my Generation.”

They don’t ask any more questions for the rest of the night.

*

As the days go by, the story unfolds. Seven escaped, they’re kept at the JSDF base, they have superpowers, but they’re not considered a threat.

Not much changes in Hinata’s life, except now his classmates have a new (torturous) way to tease him about his hair.

“Maybe you’re a Miracle, Shouyou!”

“Ha ha,” he says, rolling his eyes.

They laugh because it’s absurd, because they know him, because he could never be a mutant.

Hinata breathes a little easier when he sees the ashes of Teiko on television.

No one will come looking for him now.

*

“Do you want to—see them? The others?” Sawako asks.

According to the News, the children _aren’t_ being held prisoner, but they _are_ on a military base, and if at all possible, she wants to keep her son as far away as possible from uniformed men. Who knows what they’re doing to those kids?

Hinata thinks about this. He’s seen Yellow and Pink on TV, he knows Red and Green escaped too, but he’s not sure which of the others remain.

The only one he wants to see is Black, his friend, his best friend, his brother.

But there’s no way Black escaped.

Black probably died years ago.

“No,” Hinata says. “I don’t want to see them. Ever.”

*

He meets Kageyama Tobio towards the end of middle school.

“What have you been doing for these past three years?” Kageyama yells.

And Hinata hates him, like he’s never hated anyone before.

Kageyama is tall, skilled; a prodigy. He reminds Hinata of the Successful Projects, the blessed ones. The ones who got to live.

He reminds Hinata of his own failures. Standing in front of Kageyama, separated by a net, Hinata can’t help but remember he’s a failed Project, scrapped, worthless.

“I’m going to beat you,” he vows, crying.

Because he _will_. He refuses to be a failure in volleyball. He’ll prove his worth. He’ll beat the King of the Court and then everyone will know that Hinata Shouyou matters.

*

And this too, seems like fate.

Karasuno and Kageyama Tobio and a quick he can only perform with his eyes closed.

He has a place on Karasuno’s team, but it’s only because of Kageyama. And it’s frustrating, so very frustrating, because this is just like Teiko, when the Successful Projects said they could use Orange and Black as support.

(And then they didn’t need Orange anymore. They probably stopped needing Black too.)

How long until Kageyama said he didn’t need Hinata anymore?

“Anything he doesn’t need he tosses away,” Turnip Head had said.

Kageyama would throw him away too, just like Teiko.

Not going to happen, Hinata vows.

I’m going to make sure he needs me.

*

Fate works again in Hinata’s life, because soon he meets Kozume Kenma.

He meets him in an alley, when they’re both lost.

“I’m Hinata Shouyou. What’s your name?”

“…Kozume…Kenma…”

“So your name is Kenma, huh?” The other boy shifts uncomfortably, like he expected Hinata to react badly when he heard the name. When he looks up from the game he stares at Hinata in a way that a lot of people do when they first meet him. (It’s the orange hair).

But Kenma doesn’t react or ask questions or express very much at all.

Hinata remembers his friend Black, another expressionless boy, and something stirs within him. He’s determined to be friends with Kenma, right then and there.

*

Finding out that Kenma was on the Nekoma Volleyball team also seemed like fate at work.

Kenma is calm, analytical; thinks through all his plays with a cool head. It impresses the hell out of Hinata, and reminds him even more of Black. This is what Black would be like, if he played volleyball.

He doesn’t even mind losing.

(Much.)

*

And these are the threads of fate that create Hinata Shouyou’s life: meeting an orange haired family desperate to love him, seeing the Small Giant play volleyball, meeting Kageyama Tobio, meeting Kozume Kenma.

These are the things that shape his destiny.

*

The worst thing about Kageyama Tobio is also the best thing about him: That is, his overwhelming superiority in volleyball.

It was the thing that made Hinata hate Kageyama when he played against him in middle school; the thing that makes him resent him every so often still. Kageyama is a genius; everything comes so easy to him.

But it is also the best thing, because Hinata never has to worry about _holding back_. He has increased stamina and natural physical talent; he was created in a lab, after all, he was meant to be faster and stronger. But with Kageyama around, none of that matters. Hinata can run as fast as he wants to, practice as much as he wants to, and Kageyama is right there with him, keeping up and often beating him. Hinata can jump high and hit an insanely fast quick and it doesn’t even seem extraordinary, because it’s Kageyama who does all the impressive work.

Kageyama makes Hinata feel incredibly _human._

*

Hinata is sure he’s never wanted anything so badly as he wants to go to Tokyo for the practice games.

“Do you think you should?” Is all his mother says when she catches her son furiously studying (something she’s never seen him do before.)

Hinata’s pencil stills. He won’t pretend he doesn’t know what she’s talking about.        

There are four Miracles living in Tokyo. Four people who could recognize him.

“Tokyo’s a big place,” he says, not looking up. “And I checked, the schools that are coming aren’t _their_ schools. There’s no chance I’ll meet them.”

“Shou-kun…”

“I’ll be fine,” he says confidently.

*

Everything changes at the away games. He promised his mother he wouldn’t meet someone who knows his secret, but this turns out to be a lie.

It’s just not what he expects.

The days are long and exhausting but he has energy to spare. Practicing against strong teams only makes him _more_ excited and reckless; he wants to keep playing forever.

Which is why, one night, he roams around outside even though he should be passed out sleeping like the rest of Karasuno.

And that’s how he meets Kenma, lying down at the grass and staring at the stars.

“Oi! Kenma!” he cries. “You’re awake too?”

"Shouyou?” Kenma says, getting up from his supine position.

“Hey, if we’re both awake, want to toss for me?” He laughs at Kenma’s horrified expression. “I’m kidding! Just kidding. Even _I_ think it’s too late.” He sits down next to Kenma and asks, “So what are you doing up so late?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Kenma says with a shrug.

“Yeah, same,” Hinata says, stretching out to look at the stars.

He’s always been the kind of person who loves to talk—who can fill up any silence with words, fill the room with noise and cheer. But when he sits next to Kenma he thinks sometimes quiet is good too; sometimes it’s nice just to sit next to a friend and not say anything at all.

Kenma is the kind of person who loves silence.

That’s why it comes as a surprise to both of them when Kenma is the first one to break the quiet.

“Shouyou…”

Hinata looks at his friend.

“I know you’re a Miracle.”

*

Hinata freezes at the words. He swears to God his heart _stops._ This is wrong, all wrong—those words shouldn’t be coming out of Kenma’s mouth, there’s no way Kenma said what he thought he said.

Because there’s absolutely _no way_ for Kenma to _know_ he’s a Miracle. The only way he could _know_ Hinata is a Miracle is if he saw him use his powers.

And Hinata hasn’t used his powers for almost six years.

So he laughs. “Because I have orange hair, right? People used to tease me about that all the time in middle school, but I swear, it just runs in my family!”

Kenma just sighs. “You really _don’t_ recognize my name, do you? I thought maybe you were just pretending…”

“Your name?” Hinata frowns.

“Kozume. Dr. Kozume Yuuta is my father.”

Hinata tilts his head. “Is he famous or something?”

Kenma pulls out his cell phone and starts searching through it. Then he pulls up a picture and passes his phone to Hinata.

It’s a family photo, an old one. Hinata recognizes Kenma right away, even though his hair is brown, and he’s smiling, and he looks like he’s about twelve years old. A man and a woman stand behind young Kenma, smiling like the perfect happy family.

Hinata stares at the man, growing impossibly still and forgetting to breathe.

“Do you recognize him?” Kenma asks quietly.

“Yeah,” Hinata says when he remembers how to talk. “I recognize him.”

*

_“This is for your own good, 394.”_

_"You won’t ever be Successful if you don’t try harder, 394.”_

_“Why can’t you be like the others, 394?”_

_“The other Projects in your Generation are much, much stronger than you.”_

_“You will never amount to anything, 394.”_

_"You’re a failure, 394.”_

_"We’re going to have to scrap you, 394.”_

_"This is for the best, 394. You might be a failure, but you’ll contribute to the betterment of future Projects.”_

_“Good bye, 394.”_

*

Hinata and Kenma stay like that for a long time. Hinata’s hand starts to shake so Kenma carefully takes the phone from him before he drops it.

“They never…” Hinata rubs his eyes. He’s not about to cry, or anything, but it gives him an excuse not to look at Kenma. “They never told us their names.”

Kenma doesn’t look at him either. “He was in the News a lot. When the other Projects escaped. He was one of the scientists who went to trial. He’s in jail now.”

When he talks, he’s completely nonchalant, like none of this bothers him in the least. Kenma has never reminded him more of Black than he does right now. Black would always talk about incredibly painful things in that passive, emotionless voice, and it always made Hinata (Orange, then) want to scream.

Because he was used to it, because he knew Black, Hinata can hear the pain in Kenma’s voice, even if it isn’t there. He can see the tears, even if Kenma isn’t crying; even if Kenma looks just as expressionless as he always does, Hinata can still see how much pain he’s in.

But Hinata doesn’t know how to comfort his friend when his whole world is falling apart.

“I didn’t watch the News. That whole time after the other Projects escaped, or when the trials started. I couldn’t. I just… wanted to leave it all behind me.”

“Yeah,” Kenma says. “I did too.”

Hinata swallows. “He was in charge of the Orange Threes. My Group.”

“I know.” Kenma still doesn’t look at him. “I hacked into his computer, when it all started happening. I read all his files. I know what he did. That’s how… I recognized you. Your face was there. He thought you were dead, though. How’d you escape?”

Hinata shakes his head. “I don’t know. I never knew how, exactly. You—you knew all this time?”

There’s a lot of things Kenma could say, a lot of explanations he should give. But he only says, “Sorry.”

Hinata tries to process this information but he can’t, he _can’t._ He forces a smile and says, half-joking, “I guess this kinda makes you like my brother?”

Kenma hesitates. “More than just kind of, actually. He—”

“Nope. No, sorry, no. I’m sorry!”

And Hinata runs.

He runs, leaving Kenma there alone in the night.

He absolutely _can’t_ deal with this, any of this. He can’t hear what Kenma was about to say, he can’t acknowledge what he knows.

He just can’t.

*

The next day, he plays volleyball. When he sees Kenma he smiles and greets him and treats him like last night never happened. Kenma quietly goes along with this, like maybe nothing _did_ happen, like Hinata can pretend it was all a dream.

Hinata picks a fight with Kageyama. He wants to get stronger, better; Kageyama won’t let him, doesn’t want him to change.

He hits Kageyama because it feels good to hit him someone, fight with someone. Kageyama fights back and it’s the way things _should_ be, the two of them; fighting as equals.         

Volleyball is the only thing that matters. Getting stronger so he can stand by Kageyama’s side is the only thing that matters.

Hinata just wants to play volleyball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter now has absolutely [gorgeous art](https://umisabaku.tumblr.com/post/164812790994/chaifighter-and-then-to-prove-it-to-them-he) accompanying it! Please check out the amazing work by [ChaiFigher!!](https://chaifighter.tumblr.com/)


	2. Chapter 2

Kozume Kenma’s father is a monster and the whole world knows it.

*

His world explodes when he’s in his second year of middle school.

The Miracles escape and the whole world watches. Kenma was excited at first, because it was just like one of his games! Super powers existed and it was like every fantasy RPG he’s ever played.

Then they come for his father, and it isn’t fun anymore.

*

The trials start and Kenma loses all his friends.  

“Your dad created monsters.”

“You dad’s some kind of mad scientist.”

“Stay away from Kozume, he’ll do experiments on you!”

Only Kuroo stays by his side. “Come on, Kenma, let’s play volleyball!”

So Kenma plays volleyball, tosses for Kuroo. He doesn’t know how to say “thank you.” Kuroo chases away the people who bully him; Kuroo sneers and jeers and fights anyone who picks on Kenma.

But Kuroo is in his third year, and he graduates, leaving Kenma alone.

Kenma retreats further and further inside himself. He spends more time playing games. He pretends the whole world doesn’t exist.

*

Here’s the thing about games—you can play them for hours, literally hours, without thinking about anything at all.

When Kenma plays games he doesn’t think about the fact that his father is in jail.

He doesn’t think about the fact that his father created monsters.

He doesn’t think about how a man could come home and love his wife, love his son, and then go to work the next day and experiment on humans.

He doesn’t think about how you can love someone and also hate them.

He doesn’t think about how he has no friends.

He just plays his games, loves his games, progresses further in his games, beats his games, plays new games.

In games, you kill things, blow things up, destroy things, and still it is a much kinder world than the real one.

*

Kenma is smart. Once up a time, this fact made him happy.

“You’re just like your father,” people would tell him.

“You’re so smart, you get that from your father,” his mother would tell him, “One day you’re going to be a great scientist, just like him!”

She doesn’t tell him that anymore. No one tells him that anymore. Comparing Kenma and his father is a taboo subject.

*

But Kenma is smart, and good with computers, and he wants to know the truth. So he hacks into his dad’s computer, and he hacks into the JSDF’s servers, and he learns everything about Teiko that the world doesn’t know.

He wishes he didn’t.

His father didn’t make monsters; he is one.

Kenma is the son of a monster.

He is violently sick and doesn’t talk to anyone for days.

Kuroo comes over but Kenma shuts his ears and hides under his blankets.

His father is a monster.

Does that make him a monster too?

*

“You can’t hide forever,” Kuroo says. “High school’s going to be different, I promise. I’m going to _make sure_ it’s different.”

Kenma bleaches his hair, like that will make him a different person, like people won’t recognize him anymore.

He wants to believe Kuroo, because Kuroo is confident and sure of himself in a way that Kenma never will be.

High school is different.

It’s worse.

*

Because Kenma is just a First Year, bottom of the hierarchy and everyone knows he is the son of a monster.

And because Kuroo is just a Second Year and he can’t protect him from everything.

He plays volleyball because Kuroo plays volleyball, because Kuroo _wants_ him to play volleyball.

“You’re just a First Year,” a Third Year sneers. “And your daddy’s in jail. Your opinion doesn’t matter.”

They hit him, sometimes, when Kuroo isn’t around.

You’re just a First Year.

Your dad’s in jail.

Are you a freak too? Did your daddy make you in a lab?

*

Kenma doesn’t tell Kuroo about the bullying, but somehow Kuroo knows anyway.

“Don’t quit,” he begs. “The current Second and First Years know how incredible you are. This team is definitely stronger because of you.”

_I'm going to make a place for you._ That’s what Kuroo promises. _I’m going to make a place where you belong._

Kenma doesn’t care about volleyball at all.

But he believes in Kuroo, so he waits.

*

In his second year, he finds out the Miracles are going to start coming to public high school. He doesn’t relax until he finds out none of them will come to Nekoma.

(He can’t face them; doesn’t want to face them; doesn’t know how to face them. He wants to go his whole life without ever meeting a Project his father created.)

But by his second year, the Nekoma Volleyball Club is fully in Kuroo’s control. It is the club that Kuroo commands, and the space he has created for Kenma.

He starts every game with his cheesy line, “We are the body’s blood, we have to flow smoothly and circulate oxygen so the brain functions normally.”

It’s embarrassing, so embarrassing, but in this way, Kuroo makes sure Kenma is an integral part of the club, makes sure Kenma belongs, makes sure Kenma is loved.

*

And it gets easier, even if it never stops being hard.

He can’t ever forget that his dad is in jail. And it’s _never_ easy talking to people. His father looms in every conversation. Being the infamous Kozume Yuuta’s son shapes every interaction, even when no one mentions it. (Maybe especially when no one mentions it.)

He plays games and retreats and he watches people and he plays volleyball.

He doesn’t particularly _like_ volleyball. Sometimes he can’t believe this is his life—he would be the absolute _last_ person you’d expect to be in a sports club.

But his team needs him. It’s the team Kuroo built, the place Kuroo made for him. And when all is said and done, it’s the only place he belongs.

It’s the only place he can be “Kenma” and not “Dr. Kozume’s son.” The place where the only thing that matters is the fact that he’s a setter and not the fact that he’s the son of a monster.

*

Kuroo tries so hard sometimes, to properly socialize Kenma, and it’s just painful for both of them.

Kuroo, who probably understands him better than anyone in his life, has this mistaken idea that Kenma should have more friends.

(This comes from a place of concern. Kenma wasn’t very popular even _before_ his father was arrested for human experimentation; Kuroo seems to think it’s his duty to make sure Kenma isn’t a social pariah. Kenma has a hard time trying to explain that _even_ if his dad _hadn’t_ been arrested for social experimentation, Kenma _still wouldn’t_ want to socialize very often. Kenma likes staying home, in bed, with his games or maybe the TV. This is his ideal night.)

But because Kuroo _is_ the one person Kenma likes, and wants to be friends with, Kenma does his best to humor Kuroo occasionally.

Which means, occasionally, he has to go out and “hang.” It means socializing in large groups of people, in places filled with loud music, staying out far later than he would like.

(“But I want to be home by ten,” Kenma had said.

“Why?” Kuroo had said. “You’re going to be awake until 2 AM anyway.”

And seriously, how can someone who knows him so well just not get it? Yes, he would be awake anyway. But in his PJs, in his bed, with his games, doing things that are _enjoyable_ for him.)

So now he’s in a mall, “hanging,” which seems to translate to “watch miserably while everyone else is having fun.” Kuroo introduced him to his Fukurodani friends (he insists Kenma met them all before, because they’d played together in his First Year. But Kenma had been utterly miserable his entire First Year, running errands for the Third Years and being tormented by them, so he didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the other teams. It’s not like the Third Years had let him play in games anyway.) Kenma is moderately appalled by the fact that Kuroo has met the owl equivalent of himself. Kuroo and Bokuto are like long lost twins. And Kenma loves his friend, he really does, but he didn’t think the world needed _two_ of them.

Kuroo and Bokuto are currently in an intense competition to see who can fit more chicken tenders in their mouth. The other members of Nekoma and Fukurodani are cheering and taking bets.

Kenma can’t even take out his game console because early on in the evening Kuroo and Bokuto had sat him down next to Fukurodani’s Second Year setter with a, “You guys have so much in common” line and since Akaashi is the only one there who looks as miserable as Kenma, it would be rude to check out with a game.

Kenma now suspects he’s on the friend equivalent of a blind date. He can just imagine Kuroo and Bokuto sitting around one day saying, “Oh _you_ have an antisocial setter friend? _I_ have an antisocial setter friend! We should make sure those guys meet, I bet they’d get along!”

It’s the kind of mistaken logic extroverted people display all the time. They seem to think just because _they_ like meeting new people, _everyone_ must like meeting new people. They also fail to understand that yes, sure, two introverts probably _do_ have a lot in common, but if you stick them in a room together, _one_ of them has to be the first to strike up a conversation. Kenma is never going to be that person. It seems Akaashi isn’t either. Thus, they have reached the stalemate of suffering together without ever saying a single thing.

Damn it, Kuroo.

Akaashi clears his throat. Ordinarily, it’d be impossible to pick up on the sound over the cheers, (“Oh my God, that’s twenty-six! It’s gotta be a record! Kuroo, you can’t quit now!”) but Kenma has been painfully aware of the silence between him and Akaashi that he’s attuned to any sound.

“Do you think they’re dating?”

Kenma flicks his gaze to where Kuroo is now leaning over Bokuto, as the two take turns shoving chicken tenders in their mouths through the entwining of their arms. They’re mouths are stuffed already and they’re both drooling and it’s disgusting.

“No,” Kenma says an instant later.

“Sorry,” Akaashi says quickly. “It’s just, I know Bokuto-san dates guys sometimes.”

“So does Kuroo,” Kenma says with a shrug. “I just don’t think they’re dating.”

He knows Akaashi wants to ask why. But it’s like he’s already dared as much as he could, just bringing it up, and now he’s so appalled by his own effort he’s been silenced forever.

The nice thing to do, since Akaashi made the effort, would be to explain things.

*

The thing is, Kuroo dates. A lot. His longest relationship was three weeks, his shortest relationship was when the girl asked him out before class started and then broke up with him by the time lunch was over. Kuroo dates girls and guys, athletic people, nerdy people, tall people, short people, skinny people, fat people; the youngest was a Third Year in middle school, the oldest was in college. Kuroo dates anyone.

Everyone in Kuroo dates have two things in common. The first is they’re always the ones to ask him out, not the other way around.

The second is that Kuroo never introduces them to Kenma.

He never hides his relationships from Kenma, and he never stops hanging out with Kenma. It’s just that, while he dates them, he makes sure they’re never near Kenma when Kuroo is with Kenma.

*

He doesn’t feel like explaining this to anyone (ever) and certainly not to someone he just met.

But it probably took a lot for Akaashi to just ask the question, and Kenma takes pity on him.

“Kuroo would have told me.” Which is true enough. And then, because Akaashi had made the effort to start a conversation, he should at least try to keep the momentum flowing, he asks, “Have you played the new Monster Hunter?”

Akaashi frowns. “No, I don’t really see the point of games.”

Dear God. Kenma shoots Kuroo a dirty look and hopes he chokes on chicken tenders.

*

The entire Nekoma team is super excited for the practice game against Karasuno. This is something Coach Nekomata and the Coach Naoi encourage with their talk about “destined rivals” and “battle of the garbage dump.” Kenma is not excited. Meeting new people is a pain. Unless Kuroo has specifically arranged things beforehand (like Kenma _knows_ he did with Fukurodani) meeting new people always, always leads to, “Kozume? Like Dr. Kozume?” and Kenma doesn’t care how many garbage dumps are involved, or what prophecy has been delivered regarding their rivalry, he would really, really rather… not. Just. Not.

*

But it is destiny. It has to be.

Because then he gets lost.

And he meets Hinata Shouyou.

*

Orange haired people make him nervous. He wishes people wouldn’t dye their hair (yes, he understands his own hypocrisy) because it makes him sick every time he sees orange hair. He hasn’t been able to watch _Bleach_ since he read his father’s files.

So, when the orange hair kid bounds up to him Kenma flinches and glues his eyes to his game console, hoping the guy will just _go away._

“Kozume,” he introduces, cringing inwardly. “Kenma.”

“Hm, so your name is Kenma, huh?”

The blasé reaction causes him to look up. Is it really possible there’s someone living in Japan who _doesn’t_ recognize the name Kozume?

He freezes when he sees him.

He registers two things: One, the shirt proclaims him a Karasuno volleyball club member.

Two, _he knows this face._

He’s stared at his father’s records, first in horror, then as a kind of obsession. He’s read his father’s files over and over again, like it was the only penance he could do for his father’s sins.

He knows this face. Older now, but unmistakable.

*

_Impossible_.

Hinata Shouyou talks like nothing fazes him, Kenma is curt and quiet with all his responses like he usually is, and usually people give up on him by now, but his silence and pauses don’t bother Hinata at all.

Hinata is loud, expressive, cheerful; he is, in every way Kenma’s opposite. But when he talks Kenma can’t help but watch; and he seems to genuinely _listen_ when Kenma replies.

Kuroo comes around the same time the boy’s keepers do, and Kenma feels like a vampire who’s just been rescued from direct sunlight.

He should, by rights, pray he never sees Hinata Shouyou again.

He was sure if this day ever came that he would run as far as he could from this encounter.

Instead, he finds he’s smiling and telling the Nekoma club, “Actually, I’m kind of looking forward to the game tomorrow.”

*

When the training camp is over and he’s back home, the first thing he does is turn on his computer.

Buried under a dozen different encryptions no one (at least, no one who is likely to stumble across his computer, i.e., his mom or Kuroo) could ever find, is the hidden folders where Kenma keeps his dad’s old files.

He clicks through them and pulls up a file.

And there he is, Hinata Shouyou.

Generation “Miracle”- Orange Project Number 394.

*

He exchanges emails and texts with Hinata and he’s not even sure what he’s doing. Talking to Hinata is surprisingly easy, in some ways, even easier than talking to Kuroo.

And even as they talk, he tries to reconcile what he knows with _Hinata_. Is he really a Miracle? An Orange Three? Or is it some strange coincidence?

But he finds he wants to meet him again. He looks forward to the training camp when he finds out Karasuno will also be coming. He’ll see Hinata again, and then maybe he’ll know for sure.

*

Of course he ruins things.

He’s not sure what drove the impulse to say, “I know you’re a Miracle” because he doesn’t _know_ , not 100%.

Later, he thinks it’s because he’s been living with his father’s sins far too long. He hasn’t told anyone, not his mother, not Kuroo, about the worst of what he knows. And maybe he is desperate to finally confront the truth.

Because he’s watched people all his life, because he’s looking for it now, he sees the shock and hesitation in Hinata’s face even as the other boy tries to cover it up.

And that’s all the confirmation he needs.

When he passes his phone to Hinata, he expects the other boy to stick to his denials. (And he vows not to press it—if Hinata doesn’t want to talk about it, he’ll keep pretending.)

But Hinata’s shoulders just slump. “They never told us their names.”

And everything is different now.

Because Hinata knows. He knows what Kenma’s father did.

He lived it.

Hinata runs away, and Kenma curses himself. _What were you thinking_? He berates himself. Obviously, Hinata was trying to forget. It was just satisfying his own gratification, making Hinata remember. The kindest thing to do would have been to pretend he didn’t know.

Kenma is the worst. Not just the son of a monster. He’s monstrous, too.

*

After the first training camp is over, Kenma mopes. Hiss anxiety is an all time high as he obsesses over the fact that Hinata probably hates him now, he’s ruined things forever, Hinata will never talk to him again. Kuroo asks him what’s wrong (he’s the only one who notices the difference in Kenma’s silence. Kuroo will always be the person who knows him best.)

But Kenma can’t tell him. Not without telling him Hinata’s secret, and that’s the one thing he will _never_ do.

During practice, he gets a text from Hinata.

_Sorry I ran away._

Kenma immediately drops everything to stare at the message.

Hinata is apologizing? _Hinata?_ Kenma was the one who should be apologizing!

But before he can reply he gets a new message.

_I won’t run away next time, I promise._

Kenma clutches the phone tightly. He hasn’t lost his friend. He starts a dozen different messages and automatically deletes them. Everything he tries to say sounds too lame or trite. So in the end he just settles on:

_I’m sorry._

His phone buzzes with a response almost immediately.

_??_

_Kenma did nothing wrong?_

Kenma closes his eyes. The anxiety that’s built up over the past couple days finally disappears, and it’s like he can breathe again.

_I’m looking forward to seeing you again,_ he sends back.

*

“Did you and the Karasuno chibi have a fight?” Kuroo asks as they walk home. He’s not looking at Kenma and sounds a little too nonchalant.

Kenma just shrugs. “Kinda. Not really. It’s better now.”

Kuroo stops walking. He looks at Kenma and Kenma has to stop and look up at Kuroo just to figure out what’s wrong.

Kuroo leans down and kisses him.

Kenma, it goes without saying, has never kissed anyone before. And technically, he rationalizes, he _still_ hasn’t kissed anyone, because he’s not doing anything _now._ He’s standing very still, with Kuroo’s mouth on his, and he’s definitely _being kissed,_ he’s just not entirely sure he’s kissing _back_. (How do you know if you’re kissing back? Are you supposed to move more?)

Kuroo pulls away.

Kenma licks his lips. “Why?”

Kuroo snorts. “Come on, Kenma. This can’t come as a surprise to you.”

“No…” Kenma says, because it’s _not._ He was always pretty sure they were heading in this direction. He figured they would eventually start dating, and probably get married (or at least, live together like they were married, until the laws changed.)

Now it’s Kuroo’s turn to shrug and look away. “I’m not as confident as you seem to think I am.”

_That_ makes no sense. What does that even mean?

Kuroo sighs. “I was willing to wait for you, Kenma. As long as it took. But I’m not going to stand around and not do anything while you fall for someone else.”

Someone _else?_ What _else?_ There’s never been an “else.”

And what did he mean wait for _him?_

This doesn’t compute on so many levels. Kuroo _knows_ him. They go to the same school, go to the same club, live near each other. Practically every waking moment, they’re together. Kuroo should know better than anyone else that it’s not like there are dozens of people vying for Kenma’s attention.

He thinks about what led up to this moment, and then it clicks. But surely _that’s_ impossible…

“Kuroo… are you _jealous?_ Of Shouyou?”

Kuroo grimaces. “Yeah. I’m jealous of _Shouyou._ ”

Kenma flounders. There are so many things wrong with that he doesn’t even know where to begin.

“Kenma, how long have we known each other?”

“Uh… a long time…” he can’t even remember a time he didn’t know Kuroo…

“You still call _me_ Kuroo.”

Kenma blinks. He opens his mouth and then shuts it.

He thinks how strange it is, to know someone for so long, and still see new sides to them.

“It’s not like that with Shouyou, he’s like…” Kenma swallows but pushes the words out even as he stumbles, “…like… a brother…”

Kuroo looks away, like he doesn’t believe him.

Kenma has to admit, it _is_ pretty damning. He doesn’t usually connect to people so quickly. Even he thought that was weird, of course it would look strange to Kuroo.

And since he can’t explain (not just for Hinata’s sake, but for his own. There are things he isn’t ready to tell Kuroo yet) he settles for saying, “It’s always been you, Kuroo.”

He should probably say more. He’s never known Kuroo to _need_ reassurances before, but if he does, then Kenma should try and give them.

But then Kuroo laughs. “Yeah. I know. As long as it always is, that’s fine.”

“Yeah,” Kenma says. “It always is.”

And then they continue walking home.

*

The next training camp starts, and it’s easy to be around Hinata. He was worried there’d still be some lingering issues, but they talk just like before.

Hinata pulls Kenma away after everyone else is done for the day and demands Kenma toss for him. Kenma thinks this is a code for how they need to talk without anyone listening in until Hinata holds out the volleyball and _actually wants Kenma to toss to him._

Somewhat flustered by how deeply Hinata loves volleyball, Kenma tosses to him five times without complaining. Then he holds the ball. “Shouyou, we need to talk.”

Hinata sighs. “Yeah, I guess so. I _am_ sorry I ran away last time. It’s just—I’ve never talked about it with anyone, you know? Only my parents know. Not even my little sister knows.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Kenma says quickly. “I swear, I haven’t told anyone either.”

Hinata looks at him in surprise. “I never thought you would.”

Hinata’s capacity for trust astounds him.

“So… you said your dad has files? And you have them?”

Kenma nods. “On my computer. No one knows about them. I… couldn’t show them… to anyone.”

“Oh,” Hinata falls silent. “Could _I_ see them?”

Kenma hesitates. “Of course… but… are you sure you want to? They’re… kind of awful.”

Hinata grimaces. “Yeah. I’m sure they are. I thought a lot about it, and I _do_ want to know. I—I’m not—I know I’m not normal, OK? And I have questions, sometimes. About why I am the way I am. I guess I wouldn’t mind seeing the instruction manual, you know?”

He laughs like it’s a joke but Kenma cringes because “instruction manual” is a little too close to the truth. “Shouyou… I’m sorry. For what my dad… did.”

Kenma takes a moment to reflect on the fact that he’s probably never said something so wholly inadequate in his life.

Hinata falls silent. It’s really weird to see the Karasuno First Year so still and somber.

“Was he a good father?” Hinata asks.

Kenma jolts, surprised by the question. There’s no judgment in Hinata’s voice, just honest curiosity. Ordinarily, Kenma would be too afraid to answer honestly ( _especially_ to Hinata, an Orange Three, one of his father’s victims. It seems too cruel) but maybe because it’s _Hinata,_ Kenma does answer honestly. “Yeah. He was.”

His father was quiet and kind. He listened to Kenma patiently, always answered his questions, no matter what they were, never treated Kenma like he was “too young” to understand, never made Kenma feel like he should be different.

 “It must be hard, then. You must miss him a lot. I’m sorry.”

And no one has ever said that before. Not even his mother. Everyone always makes it seem like Kenma should hate his monstrous father (and he does, he does, but he loves him too.)

Kenma tries to swallow his emotions. He’s afraid that if he talks he’ll start crying, and he’s afraid if he starts crying, he won’t stop.

“So…” he says, clearing his throat. “We’re still… friends?”

Hinata smiles wide and slaps him on the back. “What are you talking about? We’re _brothers._ ”


	3. Chapter 3

At any given moment, Hinata’s biggest concern in life is volleyball. And any other problem is automatically secondary to any volleyball problem that might arise.

So, even though Kenma had said, “I know you’re a Miracle,” even though Kenma’s father is Hinata’s maker—all of those things just aren’t as important as the fact that Hinata wants to evolve his volleyball quick and Kageyama won’t let him.

(He should tell his parents, but he can’t. He can’t really think about the implications yet. Later, after the training camp, he’ll think about everything later.)

Until then, he trains with Ukai the senior, and doesn’t talk to Kageyama.

*

Yachi is the second person to guess Hinata’s secret, although, it isn’t the same secret and Hinata didn’t know it was a secret at all until she said it.

He walks her to the train station after practice sometimes because they go in the same direction, and he likes her company.

“Have you, um, reconciled with Kageyama-kun yet?” Yachi asks tentatively.

“We’re working through things,” Hinata says, more confidently than he feels. Privately, he wonders if things are broken, and if he’s the one who broke them, or if it will ever be the same again. (But he doesn’t _want_ things to be the same, that’s the point. He wants things to be _better._ )

And he’s thinking about all these things so he almost misses it entirely when Yachi says, “I guess being on the same team as your boyfriend must be hard, but I hope you don’t keep fighting, I really want to see your new quick—”

“Wait. What’d you say?” Hinata says, stopping.

Yachi stops and looks at Hinata quizzically. “I hope you don’t keep fighting?”

Hinata frowns, trying to mentally rewind the conversation far back enough to figure out what it was that bothered him. “Did you just call Kageyama my boyfriend?”

Yachi’s eyes bulge in a way that would ordinarily be hilarious, except Hinata’s still stuck on “boyfriend.”

“You mean he’s _not?_ I misjudged things? Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I’m the worst! I can’t believe I just made assumptions like that! I never learn! I’m so, so, so, sorry! I—”

“It’s OK,” Hinata rushes in, because he figures if he doesn’t stop her she’ll probably keep apologizing all the way to the train station. “I mean, you’re not wrong.”

Yachi freezes mid-apology. “You _are_ dating?”

“No,” Hinata says. He’s pretty sure they’re not, anyway. “I mean, you’re not wrong about _me._ ”

And then he frowns again, because he’s not even sure what he means by that.

Except he keeps thinking about _Kageyama_ and _boyfriend_ and he’s never really thought about the two words in the same sentence before, but now it seems like the two could be pretty interchangeable. _This is my boyfriend. This is my Kageyama._

Whoa. Weird.

“You… like Kageyama-kun?” Yachi ventures.

Hinata’s eyes are very wide as he ponders the implications. He’s pretty much stuck on _Whoa._

“No, I don’t think so,” Hinata says.

Yachi is thoroughly lost. “You _don’t_ like Kageyama-kun?”

Hinata starts walking again and Yachi struggles to keep up.

And there’s a whole lot there that Hinata hasn’t ever really considered but now it’s like a million thoughts are happening all at once and he can’t even begin to process things, the words don’t exist.

It’s like— _volleyball and guwaa Kageyama quick whoa kissing gyun boyfriend setter gwaa YES!!!!_

“I don’t think I like Kageyama,” Hinata says slowly, “It’s like—it’s like he’s _volleyball_ —you know?”

Yachi’s eyes are also very wide. “No. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

And that’s it. Right there. Because Kageyama _would_ know.

Hinata tries again. “I guess what I mean is, anything that’s ever going to happen in my life—all the good things and all the bad things—it’s going to be Kageyama from here on out.”

“Whoa,” Yachi says in a breathy whisper. “That sounds intense.”

Hinata nods thoughtfully in agreement. Yeah. It’s pretty intense.

*

Naturally, none of this matters. Because they have the second set of away games and he still hasn’t perfected the new quick yet.

He still hasn’t talked to Kageyama and he knows everyone else is worried. Everyone thinks something is still wrong, and that’s because they still don’t get it.

Hinata and Kageyama aren’t talking to each other, and only Hinata and Kageyama are unconcerned about this fact. They get it. It’s fine now. They’re fine now.

*

Kenma is another issue altogether. Facing his past is another issue altogether.

Because he’s been living like a normal human for six years now. He has human parents, a human sister, human friends; he hasn’t used his abilities (he misses it—he misses it so damn much it hurts. The rush, the view—the _view_ of the whole world, everything, stretching out forever; he wakes up sometimes just aching with how much he misses it) and for all intents and purposes, Hinata might as well be a normal human.

But Kenma had said files—Teiko’s files. Hinata thinks he’s never been so scared about anything as he is about the contents of those files.

And because he’s scared, he knows he has to see them. He has to know what Teiko knows.

*

The first time the new quick works is pure exhilaration.

It’s the last practice game against Fukurodani—one of Tokyo’s champions!—and they’re playing on equal footing. The fact that the new quick works—that Kageyama and Hinata _work_ —is enough to make Hinata forget anything terrible exists in this world.

Kageyama is yelling at him again—“Don’t screw around like that! If we’re gonna do it, say so beforehand!”—and it’s the best thing ever.

*

The last night of this set of away games and Hinata can’t sleep. He’s still full from the delicious BBQ, still buzzed from the success of the quick, still too excited at the thought of playing in official games again.

He goes outside at night, half expecting to find Kenma staring at the stars again, but Kenma isn’t anywhere in sight. So Hinata just patrols the area—the empty gyms, the grassy hills they had to run up dozens of times, the place where they had lunch—and he thinks about the fact that he’s going to miss this place.

He climbs up the hill one last time and stretches out on the grass. The night air is warm and humid and comfortable. Hinata wonders if he’ll get in trouble if he just sleeps here.

“Oi, Dumbass,” Kageyama calls. “What are you doing here?”

“Kageyama?” Hinata lifts himself up as the other boy approaches. “I couldn’t sleep. What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” Kageyama says gruffly. But he sits down next to Hinata on the grass instead of bringing him back to the room where Karasuno sleeps.

“Hey, hey, Kageyama, our quick _works,”_ Hinata grins.

“We still have a long way to go,” Kageyama says, “It’s not a reliable weapon yet. _You_ need to work on your reflexes more, and I still need to get the timing right—”

“Oh, shut up Kageyama,” Hinata rolls his eyes. “It _works._ Can’t you just enjoy the moment?”

“Yeah,” Kageyama says, his eyes shining. He smiles in that utterly terrifying way of his. “It works. _We_ work.”

Yeah, Hinata thinks. We do.

*

And he’s not sure how it happens. He doesn’t know who leans in first.

But all of the sudden he’s kissing Kageyama.

*

Like everything he does with Kageyama, kissing him is a battle.

Because Hinata and Kageyama kiss each other like they’ve both got something to prove. Neither of them have any clue what they’re doing; they just sort of attack each other with their mouths and neither of them backs down.

And it’s a competition, like everything they do. Once they get started it’s like they both know the first one to stop loses. Kageyama is the first one to put his tongue in Hinata’s mouth; Hinata is the first one to snake his hands under Kageyama’s shirt and grope furiously at bare skin. Things escalate very quickly, and there’s a genuine chance things were going to end with them losing their virginity on a grass hill in Saitama.

But Kageyama’s hand finds a way to Hinata’s thigh (Hinata’s hands are already cupping Kageyama’s butt) and all of the sudden Hinata pulls away with a quick motion that freezes Kageyama’s whole body.

*

On the inside of Hinata’s upper thigh is a brand: GM-O394. Only his parents have seen the brand. No matter what else seems normal in Hinata’s life, he can never forget that his past is branded on his skin. He’s always been incredibly careful about undressing below the waist in front of people. He always wraps a towel around his waist when he goes to an onsen.

There, on that hill, flushed and warm and close enough to Kageyama that they’re taking turns breathing in each other’s air, Hinata remembers GM-O394.

He has never, before this moment, ever thought about the fact that sex means being naked in front of another person. If they have sex, Kageyama would _see._

_You must promise not to tell anyone about what you can do, or where you came from._

*

Kageyama doesn’t triumph over the fact that if they were having a competition, clearly he has won, because Hinata pulled away first.

He doesn’t look like he’s won anything, in fact. He looks mildly panicked and desperate and confused—Hinata’s pulled away and he doesn’t understand why.

Hinata is wide eyed and horrified. He can’t have sex with Kageyama, because then Kageyama would know. He promised his parents no one would ever know.

Kageyama jumps away. “Sorry,” he says, not looking at Hinata, “Sorry.”

He runs away.

That’s the second time Kageyama’s ever apologized to him; and somehow, it pisses Hinata off as much as the first time. He wants to run after Kageyama and punch him—what do you mean you’re _sorry?_ Was this a mistake? Do you regret it? Don’t be sorry, you jerk!

But he stays on the grass because frankly, he also feels like he should be apologizing.

Keeping his secret from Karasuno had never seemed like a big deal. Being a mutant has never seemed like a big deal. Hinata is normal, so very normal; he so unremarkable his origins hardly even matter. Hinata never once felt like he should tell his teammates that he has superpowers and he doesn’t think of it as _keeping a secret_ so much as not telling people _unimportant details._

Now, all of the sudden, it’s important.

*

More than ever, it feels urgent to read what Teiko has to say about him. He needs to face his own reality and figure out what to do from there.

(Kageyama doesn’t talk about it the next day. Neither of them talk about it. They go back to playing volleyball like nothing happened.)

He texts Kenma and they arrange a day when he can visit. Kenma takes the train to Tokyo on a day when there’s no school, and Hinata meets him at the station. They go to a nearby park, where they can talk without being overheard.

"I made annotations in the margins,” Kenma says, as he hands over a stack of paper. “In case you had trouble with some of the terminology.”

A few seconds is all it takes for Hinata to realize this was a very considerate precaution: he has no idea what any of this means. “You understood all this, Kenma? Really?”

Kenma just shrugs, and Hinata is quietly impressed with his friend.

He settles down to read.

It’s the worst experience of Hinata Shouyou’s life.

(Not the worst thing in Orange’s life, though. GM-O394 has experienced much, much worse.)

*

Hinata flings the stack of papers on the ground, and then he’s violently sick and throws up behind a nearby bush.

Kenma quietly picks up every last sheet of paper, brushing the dirt off of them, and doesn’t meet Hinata’s eye. “I did the same thing… the first time I read them…”

Hinata wipes his mouth and he can’t look at Kenma. Kenma read that. He knew everything. He knew things about Hinata that Hinata’s never told anyone, not even his parents. He knew things about Hinata even before Hinata knew them.

Hinata’s hands shake. He’s so angry, but at the same time, he’s unbearably sad.

“I’m sorry,” Kenma says quietly.

Hinata swallows hard and finally looks at Kenma. There’s just so many things he doesn’t even know where to begin.

Finally he croaks out, “Kenma, I’m never going to be tall.”

The scientists had it all written out—how tall Hinata would be, his expected adult weight, his probable limitations. All of Hinata’s statistics were planned out and designed.

And _that’s_ the horror of it. Hinata was designed. He never had a choice about anything, never had a chance.

Kenma, instantly, seems to understand what it is that’s upsetting Hinata.

“Shouyou,” Kenma says carefully, “ _I’m_ never going to be tall. No one in my family is taller than 173 cm.”

Hinata shakes his head. “That’s different.”

“How?” Kenma asks forcibly. “So you were designed a certain way. My genetics make me a certain way. It’s not all that different.”

“Kenma—they designed me to be gay,” Hinata says, blushing. Because there it was, in black and white: Projects will be attracted to the same gender in order to prevent unfavorable breeding results. Even _Kageyama,_ God. Even how he felt about Kageyama was all designed.

“And I was born gay,” Kenma says, “So again: not all that different. No one chooses how they were created.”

“But someone chose for me,” Hinata challenges, gripping his fists tightly. “I didn’t choose my genetics or my sexuality but someone chose for me.”

And Kenma falls silent, because there’s not a whole lot he can say to that.

Not just someone. Kenma’s father. Kenma’s father and some other anonymous Teiko scientists sat around and designed Hinata.

Then, despite the fact that Hinata feels horrified, and inhuman, and sick, Kenma’s words finally fully catch up with the rest of Hinata’s brain. “Wait, you’re gay? Really?”

Kenma seems momentarily surprised by the sudden change in topic. “Oh. Yeah. I’m dating Kuroo, I guess.”

“Really?” Hinata says, impressed. _Dating._ He doesn’t know anyone who’s _dating_. Kenma seems so mature right now. “That’s awesome!”

“Thanks,” Kenma fidgets with his fingers, like he wishes he was playing a game. Not because he’s bored, but because it would relax him, and he really wants to be relaxed in this moment. Then he blurts out, “Volleyball.”

“What?”

“They didn’t design volleyball,” Kenma cringes, like he can’t believe what he’s saying. “They didn’t design you to be a middle blocker and they didn’t design you to fall for Kageyama.”

“How’d you know I liked Kageyama?” Hinata yelps.

“It was obvious,” Kenma says. “Anyway, you were designed a certain way, and I was born a certain way, but there’s a million things that happen in our lives that shape us into who we are that no one has control over.”

Hinata thinks about this. The same man who created Hinata also created Kenma (in a very different way) and that man had nothing to do with why either of them play volleyball, and yet they both do.

“So… it’s sort of like fate,” Hinata says.

Kenma frowns. “I’m not sure that’s what I meant.”

“But it is!” Hinata thinks about it more and he gets increasingly excited. “Like, maybe the scientists made me a certain way, but maybe even they were being controlled by fate.”

“Uh… sure?”

Because Kenma and Hinata were created by the same man but they live in different cities and they met anyway. Because of volleyball.

When he was Orange, when he was in Teiko, the scientists were the ultimate authority. The Projects had no concept of “God” but that’s what the scientists were—they were gods and they controlled everything.

But Hinata likes the idea of “fate.” He likes the idea that there was some force even larger than the scientists that determined _everything:_ Projects and humans and scientists alike.

“Thanks Kenma!”

“Um. Sure.”

*

Hinata continues looking through the papers, asking Kenma questions periodically for clarification.

“So… so your dad used his own DNA in the Orange Threes?”

“A little bit, by the looks of it,” Kenma explains. “The Projects were all made with a compilation of a lot of different kinds of DNA. There were a lot of human donors, so really, you have about six different human genetic donors that make up—”

“So you really are like my brother,” Hinata says, interrupting because he only understood half of what Kenma’s saying anyway.

“Sort of. In reality, we probably have less genes in common than half-brothers do—maybe the same amount as cousins, or second cousins—”

“You’re like my big brother!” Hinata says, fixating on this idea and deciding he really liked it. “I could call you Onii-chan!”

“No,” Kenma says instantly. “You can not.”

“Onii-chan,” Hinata says, trying it out.

Kenma glares at him. “Shouyou, in the alternate universe where you and I are actually brothers, born and raised by the same people, growing up in the same house—in that alternate universe, _you are still not calling me ‘Onii-chan.’_ It’s not happening there, it’s not happening here.”

“Kenma Nii-san,” Hinata says, “Ken-nii.”

“I am going to hit you soon.”

“Just like a big brother would! Ken-nii, this opens up—ow!”

*

“Are you going to be OK?” Kenma asks before his train comes to take him away.

Hinata thinks about his answer. The papers are in his school bag; he’s going to have to find a really good place to hide them. He’s not sure what he was expecting when he first thought about seeing Teiko’s reports. Does he understand himself better now? Has he learned anything?

He always knew he was created in a lab.

He always knew he was an unsuccessful experiment.

And, in the end, he knows he is Hinata Shouyou. Whatever it was that made GM-O394, it’s not the same things that make Hinata Shouyou.

“Yeah,” he says. “I’m going to be fine.”

*

He feels like things have come to a close. He understands his Teiko life a little better now, and he doesn’t really need to know anymore. He feels like he can officially close the doors in that part of his life and just move on.

He has never wanted to know about the other Miracles, but his classmates don’t always make that easy.

“I hear they’re playing basketball now,” a boy named Satou remarks. Satou sits next to him and he’s in Karasuno’s basketball club.

“That doesn’t seem fair,” someone else remarks. “How are we supposed to compete against someone with superpowers?”

Hinata tenses. “It’s not like they have a lot of advantages.”

“What? Come on, Hinata-kun, _you_ wouldn’t want to play against someone with superpowers, would you?”

“I play against taller and stronger guys _all the time,_ ” Hinata says.

“Someone taller and stronger than you isn’t hard to achieve, though,” Satou laughs.

“You wouldn’t want someone like that on your team either,” Hirashi, who’s in the tennis club, says.

“Why not?” Hinata demands.

“They’d automatically get to be regulars, right? I read about them in a magazine. Even when they’re not using their powers, they’re stronger and faster than average humans. It wouldn’t be any fun playing with them.”

“That’s not true!” Hinata protests. Because it really hasn’t helped him—he’s not a better player because he was designed in a lab, he’d had to _work_ for that.

“You don’t play basketball,” Satou says. “I bet you’d feel different if they were all playing volleyball.”

“I wouldn’t,” Hinata exclaims.

This is a lie. He very much does not want the others to play volleyball.

Just for different reasons.

*

“Hey Kageyama,” he says, during practice. “How would you feel if the Miracles wanted to play volleyball?” He asks this like he doesn’t care about the answer.

“What? Why would that matter to me?” Kageyama grunts.

“Like, what if one of them wanted to play here?” Hinata clarifies.

Kageyama scowls in that way that means he’s thinking. “That depends. Would they play setter?”

“Uh. No.”

“Then that’s fine.” He thinks this over some more and then nods. “Yeah. That’d be fun.”

“I’d love if it if the Miracles played volleyball!” Tanaka shouts, overhearing the conversation. “Play against guys with superpowers? Bring it on!”

“I’d receive all their spikes!” Nishinoya declares.

Hinata feels warm all over. It’s a feeling of rightness and belonging. There’s no place he’d rather be in the world than here with Karasuno.

He’s so distracted he doesn’t see the volleyball coming when it hits him in the face. Kageyama calls him a dumbass and even _this_ feels like how it should be. He never wants anything to change.

*

“I wish I could meet a Miracle,” Yamaguchi says after practice.

“What? Why?” Hinata exclaims.

“Are you kidding me? Who wouldn’t want to meet one?” Yamaguchi says. “They have superpowers! It’s like an anime. Do you think they’ll be superheroes when they’re older?”

“No,” Hinata says flatly, “I don’t.”

Kageyama and Tsukishima both look at Hinata curiously.

Teiko wasn’t making heroes. And those guys—they _definitely_ aren’t the hero type.

“It’d be cool,” Hinata says quickly, realizing his answer is out of character. “But, I mean, there’s probably a whole lot of other things they’d rather be.”

Yamaguchi nods, accepting the answer.

Not heroes, Hinata thinks, his stomach feeling uneasy. Those guys are much more likely to be villains. Another reason why he never wants to see them.

He hopes they don’t become supervillains. If they did, would he have to stop them? He’s _definitely_ not the superhero type—his ability is practically useless.

He just wants to play volleyball.

*

He and Kageyama never talk about the fact that they kissed.

Hinata wants it to happen again. He definitely wants it to happen again. (Does Kageyama? What if Kageyama _doesn’t_ want it to happen again?)

But, say they date—even if they don’t have sex any time soon (and frankly, Hinata’s not sure he’d want to wait all that long)—they probably would _eventually_ , right? And wouldn’t he have to tell Kageyama then? And can he even date someone _without_ telling them he’s a mutant? That seems like something you should tell people, if you’re dating.

_You promised your parents,_ he reminds himself. _They said, never tell anyone._

Surely not forever, Hinata tries to reason with himself. Surely they didn’t mean forever.

_Promises don’t have expiration dates._

It’s an endless debate, and really, he should just _ask_ his parents if he could tell Kageyama. Surely they’d understand.

(But what if they _didn’t_? What if they still said, “Never tell anyone?” What would he do then?)

Hinata plays volleyball. They win their first two matches.

(Hinata doesn’t ask his parents. He doesn’t tell Kageyama, either.)

It can wait. After the tournament. After they beat the Grand King and Shiratorizawa and go to Nationals and beat Nekoma. After all of that, then he can figure out what’s happening with Kageyama.

*

And maybe the fire is fate too.

(He hopes not. He doesn’t want to think it had to happen this way; that Yachi was always going to be in danger.)

Maybe not fate, but maybe it was a symptom of the inevitable.

Yes. That’s right. Maybe it was inevitable.

They have another training game. Karasuno stays in one of the oldest buildings, made from dry, creaking wood.

Karasuno goes to practice, but Yachi stays inside because she wants to prepare lunch for everyone.

Unbeknownst to her, and to everyone, local teens play with illegal fireworks outside thinking the old, run down building was abandoned.

They lose control of the fireworks and then they run away.

The fire devours the exit first. By the time Yachi notices the flames, she has no where to go but up.

(She panics, she knows she’s panicking—maybe there was another way, maybe she could have found a window. Surely everyone knows when a fire starts you don’t go _up_ stairs. But she wasn’t thinking clearly. Her instincts for “flight” drove her to run upstairs, to the roof.

Maybe that was fate too.)

*

It has always been remarkably easy for Hinata to forget he’s a genetically superior being with enhanced senses. Largely, because he plays volleyball with and against people who are just as remarkable as he is, if not better. So although he is faster than the average human, with quicker reflexes and superior jumping skills, most of the humans he knows are better than average as well, so it’s easy to forget he’s not the same.

It’s easy to forget that he also has enhanced sense—better vision, hearing and sense of smell than everyone around him.

Hinata smells the smoke first.

He grows still, and stares in the direction of Karasuno’s camp.

He gets hit in the head with a volleyball. “Oi, Dumbass! Pay attention!” For once, the fact that Kageyama is yelling at him doesn’t elicit a reaction.

Because he smells smoke, _a lot_ of it. (And he remembers a fire in Teiko, once. A devastating fire. Something is wrong, he knows it.)

“I smell smoke,” he says.

“What?” Kageyama says.

“I don’t smell anything,” Nishinoya says, sniffing the air.

“You’re imagining things,” Daichi says.

Hinata shakes his head. “ _I smell smoke.”_ He remembers, then, that he has enhanced senses. He’s revealing too much, but he doesn’t care. Something is _wrong._

His ability gave him even better eyesight than the rest of the Projects. When he activated his power, he could see anything like a hawk or an eagle—everything for miles around in intricate detail. If he activated his power now, he could _see_ it…

“Hinata, get back to practice!” Ukai orders.

It’s not just the scent of smoke; it’s the smell of _burning._ Distantly, he hears a scream.

“Yachi-san is in danger!” he yells, and he takes off running.

*

And that’s all he’s thinking about: smoke, Yachi, danger.

So he doesn’t notice that Kageyama chases him, or that the rest of Karasuno follows.

(Kiyoko was the first to run, after Kageyama. Kiyoko was the only one who took Hinata’s pronouncement at face value: it didn’t even occur to her that Hinata could be mistaken. If Yachi was in danger, she was going to drop everything and run to her. Because Kiyoko left, Tanaka and Nishinoya did too. The rest of Karasuno, having lost four key players and their manager, ran after everyone in order to wrangle them into returning.

But as everyone ran after Hinata, they too, slowly began to smell smoke. And then they started running in earnest, feeling a terrible sense of urgency.)

Hinata, of course, got there first, followed closely by Kageyama. The building is engulfed in flames, and he can’t get too close because the heat of it is sweltering.

“Yachi-san!” And he’s not sure what he was planning on doing (was he really going to throw himself into a burning building?) but Kageyama catches his wrist, keeping him in place.

“Don’t be an idiot, Dumbass!” Kageyama yells. “You don’t know she’s in there!”

“ _Hitoka-chan!_ ” Kiyoko screams. And it takes the combined powers of Daichi and Suga to hold her back.

Suddenly, all of Karasuno is there, and the team is split in two between the people who are trying to run into a burning building and the people holding them back. Ennoshita and Asahi hold back Tanaka and Nishinoya as Tsukishima calls 119. Yamaguchi tries to call Yachi’s phone number and everyone panics when she doesn’t pick up. Kiyoko continues to struggle against Daichi and Sugawara’s hold, and eventually even Narita has to help hold her back.

Hinata stares at the building, helpless. If it was Blue, he could run in there and out again in the blink of an eye. Purple could withstand the flames long enough to save Yachi, if Yachi was there; even Green would have been able to do _something_ —so many of the other Projects had more useful abilities than Hinata. Hinata rails against the Universe—what good are superpowers if they’re useless?—and prays Yachi is safe, no where near the building, far away—

“There!” Yamaguchi yells, pointing up.

One by one, Karasuno looks up, and there is Yachi, on the roof, looking desperate and scared.

“Mattress!” Tanaka yells. “We can get a mattress! She can jump down!”

“No time!” Nishinoya yells. “Yachi-san! Jump down now! We’ll catch you!”

Hinata shakes off Kageyama’s hand from his wrist.

He doesn’t hesitate.

He glows orange and jumps.

*

It’s been six years since he last used his ability, and his control has never been great.

He launches himself in the general direction of Yachi and more or less slams into her and keeps going up. He has the presence of mind to wrap his arms around her, hold her tight, and lift as he keep going up, up, up.

And then he’s there. At the top.

The view is _amazing._

He hovers in the air for a minute and it feels like eternity. He can see everything, _everything_ —the trees, the people, the buildings. He sees the birds and the insects and the blades of grass. The whole wide world that is wonderful and Hinata sees it all.

This is what he has missed most, this view. GM-O394 found a peace at the top that Hinata has only ever been to experience while spiking a volleyball.

“Hinata…kun?”

Hinata looks at the girl in his arms. Yachi has her arms around him so tightly, under normal circumstances Hinata would be worried about breathing (but he’s running on adrenaline and excitement now, nothing can disturb him.) Her eyes are wide, her mouth a small “o” of wonder. She smells like smoke and she’s trembling. Hinata can feel her heartbeat (this close, he can _hear_ her heartbeat) and she’s terrified, her heart beats like a captured rabbit’s.

He smiles wider. “It’s OK, Yachi-san! I’m not going to let anything happen to you!”

She nods her head, eyes still wide and staring.

 Hinata has never been able to float in the air for a few seconds, a minute tops. He slowly starts his descent.

*

When his feet touch the ground, Yachi is immediately engulfed by Kiyoko, as she pulls the younger girl to her in a tight hold.

The rest of Karasuno stares at Hinata, silently, as he stands there, haloed by flames.

Everything changes now.

Everything.

“Sorry,” he says, bowing his head. “I’m sorry!”

And then he turns and runs.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Kageyama Tobio is not good with people.

*

When he was in middle school, he once read a book that explained cuckoo birds. The cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, so that their chicks will be raised by other birds.

And that’s what Kageyama feels like. Like he’s a different bird in the wrong nest.

Kageyama, most days, doesn’t feel like he’s human.

At the very least, he feels like there was some manual labeled “how to human properly” and everyone has read it but him.

Everyone around him seems to watch the same shows, listen to the same music, know the same trivia about idols and movie stars and shoes and school and they all care a lot about who’s dating who and who likes who and when they talk it’s like a whole other language. Some sort of code everyone but Kageyama can decipher: he understands the words but he doesn’t know what they _mean._

It’s been like this since elementary school—Kageyama has just never understood the right combination of phrases that could get people to like him. By middle school, he stops even trying.

*

He’d thought that if he could connect with anyone, it would be with other volleyball players. Because volleyball is the one thing that always made sense to him. At the very least, Kageyama speaks the language of volleyball, and he thought that would be enough to connect to people.

He was wrong.

*

In middle school, Kageyama admired Oikawa Tooru, but did not envy him.

Oikawa is a talented setter, no question; he’s great with people, with a team. Kageyama doesn’t _envy_ his skills as a setter, because that would imply he thought Oikawa has something Kageyama doesn’t (and at that point, he was still sure his skills were not in any way lacking compared to Oikawa’s.)

The one thing Kageyama _did_ envy Oikawa for was Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi is a skilled spiker who trusts Oikawa completely. That’s something Kageyama has always, always wanted. More than that, Iwaizumi always seemed to effortlessly understand Oikawa.

Because Kageyama isn’t stupid, he understands that there are two Oikawas—the charming Oikawa the public adores, and the twisted Oikawa Kageyama dubs the “real” Oikawa. From Oikawa, Kageyama learns that being good with people is just a skill. You don’t actually have to be a nice person; you just have to know how to fake it.

(And Kageyama has no idea how to fake it. This, he thinks, is the real difference in ability between Oikawa and him.)

But Iwaizumi knows the _real_ Oikawa, and he likes him anyway ( _trusts_ him anyway).

Kageyama thinks this must be because they’re childhood friends, and he resents this. He thinks if _he_ had a childhood friend, then he too, could have someone who understood him and liked him and been an awesome reliable spiker for him.

But you can’t just _get_ a childhood friend. You either have one or you don’t.

*

And then he meets Hinata Shouyou.

*

From Hinata, Kageyama learns that some people _are_ just truly good with people.

Because unlike Oikawa, Hinata never fakes it. Hinata is always Hinata, no matter who he’s with or what he’s doing.

Kageyama has never met someone like Hinata before; he didn’t know people like Hinata _existed._ Because Hinata can talk to _anyone_ effortlessly and people just _like_ him. Teammates, opponents, classmates, Third Years, boys, girls, teachers, neighborhood moms. Everyone likes Hinata.

(Kageyama does too. Of course he does. But this isn’t unusual, everyone likes Hinata, and it just makes Kageyama angry to think he’s just like everyone else.)

*

The defining moment for him is when Hinata attacks him for apologizing.

Kageyama is so, so upset with the loss to Aoba Johsei that it just feels good to fight with someone. It feels good just to yell with someone, to vent all his feelings.

It’s only later that he thinks about how angry Hinata was when he tried to apologize.

_“Don’t make it sound like you shouldn’t have tossed to me!”_

But that’s not what he was saying at all.

In middle school, they had blamed him. “You’re quicks are too fast,” “No one can hit the balls you toss,” “What’s the point of a setter if you can’t set the balls your spiker wants.”

They always said it was _his_ fault when he just wanted to yell at them, “Why CAN’T you hit the balls I set up? Why don’t you just TRY harder?”

Hinata doesn’t blame him. Hinata is always going to try harder.

*

Around the time he starts to realize that Hinata is the kind of spiker he’s always wanted, he begins to realize he just _wants Hinata._

And this is terrible; he hates himself almost immediately after he has this realization.

Because he’s not special. He has to remind himself of that. Maybe Hinata’s the first person who has ever gotten along with him, but he’s not the first person to ever get along with Hinata. In fact, probably the _only_ reason Hinata can talk to him is because Hinata can talk to anyone.

When he’s with Hinata, he doesn’t feel inhuman. For the first time ever, he feels like he knows the language. When he’s with Hinata it’s the easiest thing in the world.

But that’s only because it’s Hinata. (He has to remind himself of this fact over and over again: you are not special to Hinata. Hinata can talk to anyone. Hinata can make friends with anyone. You are not special to Hinata.)

So he thinks, OK. That’s fine. He doesn’t need to be special to Hinata; he just needs to be Hinata’s setter. So long as Hinata needs him to toss the ball (as long as Hinata needs him as setter more than anyone else) then he’s fine.

*

He knows, as horrible as it is, that somewhere deep down he really enjoyed the fact that he was the only setter who could work with Hinata.

He thought he’d be more anxious once Hinata started to learn how to respond to other setters, but instead it comes as a relief.

Because he can picture Hinata’s potential clearly—Hinata has the reflexes and the drive to be the best damn spiker in Japan (way better than Iwaizumi, take _that_ Oikawa); with enough practice, Hinata could be with any setter.

But Kageyama firmly believes that he’s the only one who could bring out the _best_ in Hinata. Once Hinata becomes the best spiker, Kageyama will be the best setter, and no one will ever be able to touch them.

And that’s enough. (Probably, Kageyama thinks. Probably that’s enough. He won’t ask too much from Hinata. You’re still not special, he reminds himself.)

*

When they kiss, Kageyama has one moment where he thinks everything is wonderful and amazing and maybe he _can_ dare ask for more than this. Maybe he can have this one good thing.

But then Hinata pulls away looking horrified and Kageyama thinks _oh shit, I fucked up._

He runs away like a coward. _You’re not special,_ he yells at himself. _He means more to you than you mean to him._

And things go back to normal, and he’s thankful.

He’s also _a little_ irritated because does that mean it could have been anyone? Would Hinata have kissed anyone on that hill?

(Probably, he tells himself bitterly.)

But if he had to choose between having Hinata as a spiker and having Hinata as a boyfriend, he’s going to choose spiker every time.

Because nothing is more important to him than the relationship they have in volleyball.

*

When Hinata jumps to save Yachi, it actually takes a truly embarrassing amount of time for Kageyama to realize what this means.

Because honestly, the first thought he has when he sees Hinata jump is, _Oh, hey, I didn’t know he could jump that high. That’s awesome._

Like, maybe somewhere in the back of his head, he was thinking why _couldn’t_ Hinata jump over a building? Hinata was amazing, with limitless potential. In some small part of Kageyama’s mind, it just made sense.

It’s only when Tanaka says, “Uh… did anyone _know_ Hinata was a Miracle?” as he stares up at the sky that Kageyama even begins to process, _Oh hey, Hinata’s flying right now. That’s weird._

A Miracle.

“That’s not right,” Nishinoya protests, also staring up at the sky. “We saw his parents once. And his sister. They all have orange hair.”

“Yeah…but…” Asahi points to where Hinata hovers in the air holding Yachi.

“Kageyama, did _you_ know?” Yamaguchi asks.

Kageyama shakes his head, eyes never leaving the glowing orange figure in the sky.

Hinata begins to descend, and Kiyoko makes a hiccupping sound as she chokes back a sob. She’s the first to rush to the two when they touch the ground, grabbing Yachi and holding her like she’s afraid to let go.

Everyone else stares at Hinata.

Hinata bows his head. “Sorry. I’m sorry!”

And then he runs away.

*

Kageyama puts zero thought into his actions and runs after Hinata.

He doesn’t even really process what’s happening. It’s a bit like he’s just moving on instinct—Hinata’s running; of course he’s going to run after him.

Because he’s completely hardwired to do what Hinata does. If Hinata’s still practicing, he’s still practicing. If Hinata’s running, he’s running. It’s physically impossible for him to _not_ catch up to Hinata; he’s so used to doing everything side by side.

They’ve raced enough times that Kageyama knows their speed is evenly matched. Sometimes Hinata pulls ahead, sometimes Kageyama does, but the other is always just a pace behind.

This time, Kageyama doesn’t need to win—he doesn’t need to come out ahead. He just has to get close enough to grab Hinata.

And he does.

Again putting very little thought into his actions, as soon as he’s close enough to Hinata he tackles the smaller boy to the ground like they’re playing American Football.

They both go crashing down, and Kageyama lands on top of Hinata in a very undignified squashing of bodies.

Kageyama is still running on instinct, so he just wraps his arms around Hinata and holds on for dear life (Because Hinata can fly. _He can fly._ If Kageyama let’s go, Hinata could jump in the air and go somewhere Kageyama can’t follow and _there’s no way_ Kageyama is letting that happen.)

“Dumbass!” he yells into Hinata’s ear. “Dumbass Hinata! Why are you running?”

Hinata shakes in his arms. “Let me go, Kageyama!”

“No! Never! Not until you promise not to run away!”

Hinata shoves at him and struggles. “Let me go!” Kageyama only tightens his hold.

“Say you won’t run!”

“Damn it, Kageyama! _I’m not human!”_

“That’s bullshit!” Kageyama yells. “You’re the most human person I know!”

Hinata stills in his arms. He clutches Kageyama’s shirt. He’s still shaking, and Kageyama thinks he hears Hinata crying.

“You’re squashing me,” Hinata says, his voice muffled against Kageyama’s shirt. “Get off.”

“Say you won’t run,” Kageyama commands.

“I won’t! Get off!” Hinata shoves at him again and Kageyama moves; he flops down on the grass next to Hinata but he firmly holds onto Hinata’s wrist. He still doesn’t quite trust him not to fly away.

Hinata scowls like he knows Kageyama’s still doubting him, but he doesn’t try to shake off Kageyama’s hold.

“Why did you run?” Kageyama asks.

Hinata’s eyes are very wide. “Don’t be an idiot, Kageyama.”

“You’re the idiot. Idiot,” Kageyama retorts like a child.

Hinata’s scowl deepens but he doesn’t say anything.

Distantly, Kageyama hears sirens. He’s not sure what Hinata is so scared about, but he knows Hinata doesn’t want to be caught.

Kageyama stands up, pulling Hinata along with him (he never lets go of his wrist.) “Come on, Dumbass. We can go hide in one of the other bunk houses.”

*

Later, Kageyama and Hinata will hear about the way the Karasuno team quietly and universally all agreed to tell the authorities nothing about Hinata’s involvement.

Yachi started it. When the police and the firefighters came, hearing reports about a girl in the burning building, she just quickly blurted out, “They were mistaken! I got out of the fire when it started!”

And then she started coughing and they were busy checking her out that they didn’t pay much mind when everyone else chimed in with various exclamations of, “Oh yeah, we were wrong, yep, totally wrong, there certainly wasn’t a girl on the roof, nope.”

They cover for Hinata without quite understanding what the big secret is. Later, much, much later, when the authorities have left and Karasuno has been assigned temporary sleeping arrangements, Karasuno is finally alone.

Yachi was taken to a hospital as a precaution and Kiyoko shouldn’t be in the room with the boys after hours, but no one dares keep her away. She’s the first one to approach Hinata—she just wraps her arms around him and hugs him fiercely. She whispers, “Thank you, thank you, thank you” into his ear over and over again, Hinata frozen still the entire time.

When she pulls away everyone seems mildly embarrassed and not entirely sure how to bring up the giant elephant in the room.

“So, Shouyou, have you always been a Miracle?” Nishinoya starts it off.

“Uh,” Hinata says, rubbing his neck. “Yeah.”

“But there are only seven of them,” Yamaguchi says, like somehow Hinata must have it wrong, despite the fact that they all saw him jump over a building. “I read all about them. And. Um. You’re not one?”

“There were more than just seven of us,” Hinata says defensively. “In Teiko. There were lots of us. I escaped six years ago. The others escaped after me, I guess.”

“But why wouldn’t you just _tell_ us?” Suga asks, sounding hurt. “I mean, it’s not a big deal, right? The others all go to public high schools. Surely it wouldn’t be a problem, for people to find out you’re one too.”

That’s what Kageyama keeps wondering. He didn’t care too much about the existence of superpowered children, but even he knows it’s not so sensational anymore. They live with regular families, go to regular high schools, and Kageyama’s never heard of anything _bad_ happening to them. So why didn’t Hinata just _tell_ them?

(Why didn’t Hinata tell _me?_ He wants to say. But then a nasty voice in the back of his mind that sounds an awful lot like Oikawa says, “And why should Hinata tell _you?_ You’re not special to him.”)

“My parents made me promise not to tell anyone,” Hinata mutters, not meeting anyone’s gaze.

“Well,” Tsukishima says, drawing everyone’s attention. “He can’t play volleyball if people know, right?”

“ _What?”_ Kageyama demands. He’s not alone, both Tanaka and Nishinoya protest this, making it clear this never occurred to them either.

Hinata flinches and _doesn’t_ protest Tsukishima’s crazy talk, meaning he _had_ thought about that.

“That’s ridiculous!” Kageyama shouts. The very thought makes him sick. Play volleyball without Hinata? No way.

“Of course he can play!” Nishinoya yells at Tsukishima.

“Are you saying you don’t want to play with Hinata anymore?” Tanaka growls.

Tsukishima sighs. “No, of course not. But they’d never let him play, OK?”

“That can’t be right,” Yamaguchi protests. “I heard the other Miracles play basketball.”

“They’re only allowed to play in official games if the opposing team also has a Miracle,” Daichi explains, sounding apologetic as he does so.

“Basketball’s a stupid sport,” Hinata says, muttering again, like he doesn’t expect anyone to hear him. Kageyama agrees. Basketball is stupid.

“Look, I’m not trying to say Hinata shouldn’t play with us,” Tsukishima says, and he sounds weary, like he’s tired of always having to be the voice of reason. “But you _do_ realize that if the officials find out we’ve been playing with a Miracle on our team they might decide we’ve been cheating?”

“It doesn’t give me that many advantages!” Hinata shouts over Tanaka and Nishinoya’s protests.

“ _I know,”_ Tsukishima says in a way that silences everyone. “No one who has ever played with or against you would think you have unfair physical advantages.”

Everyone looks at Hinata. Without Yachi around, he is literally the smallest person in the room. It is hard to imagine _anyone_ looking at Hinata and thinking he was physically superior in any way.

“All I’m saying is, people _could_ think we’ve been cheating. They might declare the games we’ve won as void.”

Daichi says, “Tsukishima’s right. We have to at least face that possibility.”

Everyone falls silent as they think about this.

“So…” Tanaka says, “So we just don’t tell anyone?”

Hinata looks up, hope shining in his eyes, “That could work!”

“There’s no way we’ll be able to keep this hidden,” Suga says. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t _try,_ just so we’re clear, I just don’t see how we _could._ ”

“I’ve kept it a secret from everyone for six years!” Hinata protests. “This was the first time in _forever_ I even used my powers! And it’s really unlikely someone else will be stuck on the roof of a burning building.”

“But now we all know,” Ennoshita points out. “And it’s a lot harder to coordinate a secret with multiple people. Especially considering Tanaka and Noya can’t keep a secret.”

“What? I can too!” Tanaka yells.

“You told Daichi-san we were planning a surprise party for him _one hour_ after we started planning.”

“Because he asked and he’s scary!”

“I didn’t tell anyone!” Nishinoya says, “I don’t know why I’m included in this.”

“You have zero filter,” Ennoshita says. “Remember that time you told us all your social security number? Remember that?”

“Or that time you yelled Rolling Thunder 3 and then said, ‘just like my email password,’” Suga points out.

“Or that time you told us all about your funny dream about Asahi,” Tanaka puts in.

“Wait, what?” Asashi says, blinking.

“That just means I trust you guys!” Nishinoya proclaims.

“Noya-san’s oversharing aside, what are we going to tell Coach and Takeda-sensei?” Suga asks.

Hinata looks miserable again. “I just want to play volleyball.”

“No one’s saying you can’t,” Kageyama says darkly, glaring at everyone present.

“No one is saying that,” Daichi agrees. “It’s settled. We won’t say anything to anyone.”

Hinata casts his eyes around his teammates and relaxes again from what he sees.

“And just so we’re all being open, Kageyama, _you’re_ not a Miracle, right?” Suga asks.

“What?” Kageyama grunts, startled to be brought in the conversation like this. “No, of course not.”

“Good,” Suga says. “So we’re fine then. We can get away with it if it’s just Hinata-kun, but if it were both of you we might have a problem.”

 “How surprising. The King is much more likely to be a human experiment, don’t you think?” Tsukishima smirks.

“Oi!”

*

“What kind of advantages _do_ you have, Hinata?” Yamaguchi asks later.

Hinata wrinkles his nose in thought. “Really not a lot. I guess I’m naturally quicker. And have better stamina. But honestly, I’m no where near the others in terms of physical ability. The Orange Threes were designed to be smaller and less muscular. It was supposed to help us fly better, you know?”

Kageyama stiffens. Daichi and Suga exchange a glance that Hinata seems to miss.

It was one thing to understand objectively that Hinata was a Miracle, but the full implications hadn’t really settled in yet. Hinata was _designed._ He was created in a _lab._

“Besides, I was a failed experiment,” Hinata continues, unaware of everyone’s reactions.

“ _Failed?_ ” Asahi repeats. “What—what does that mean?”

Hinata frowns quizzically. “It means failed? You know. I was no good. Unsuccessful.”

_No good. Failed._ Kageyama’s fingers twitch and he’s mildly appalled to realize that he’d wanted to touch Hinata.

He’s not alone with his impulse. Suga’s eyes widen and Kageyama can see his hand raise, like he also wanted to reach out but he resists. Kiyoko’s eyes soften, and she looks like she wants to hug Hinata again and shield him from the world.

But Hinata looks so nonchalant about it—like he doesn’t understand what he’s saying. Or why it sounds so sad.

“You’re not a failure!” Kageyama says, and he winces internally, because he realizes it came out sounding a lot more angry than he’d intended (like most of the things he said.)

“I never said I was!” Hinata yells back. “I said I was a _failed Project._ That’s different!”

“Fine! Don’t be a dumbass!” Kageyama has no idea why he’s shouting at this point.

“I’m not! Jerk! Kageyama jerk!”

But Hinata’s yelling back, so Kageyama figures that’s fine. They’re fine.

Everything’s the way it should be.

*

And somehow, that’s it.

Kageyama isn’t exactly sure what the standard protocol is supposed to be when you find out one of your teammates has superpowers, but Karasuno takes it all in stride.

After all, it’s not like Hinata has _changed_ with the knowing. He’s just Hinata; loud and energetic, like he’s always been.

The only thing that changes in a real way is the fact that Kageyama is a little more sensitive when the topic of the “Miracles” comes up.

(He looked them up, when he came home from the training camp. The other Miracles are all tall and muscular and scary looking. They don’t look like high school students, much less First Years, and it seems impossible to think that Hinata is one of them.)

So when his classmates start talking about the Miracles, he shamelessly listens in.

“Do you think what they’re saying about the Miracles is true?”

“No way. It’s too fake sounding, don’t you think?”

“But it makes sense, right? Doesn’t it?”

“How terrifying! I hope not! I don’t think I could sleep at night, if that was true.”

“What are you talking about?” Kageyama interrupts.

All of them jump at the sound of Kageyama’s voice. They gape at him, completely dumbfounded. It occurs to Kageyama that he’s never initiated a conversation with his classmates before. He doesn’t even remember their names.

“Umm. You know that rumor about the Miracles?” a girl ventures, looking like she expects Kageyama to start yelling at her.

“What rumor?” he grunts, trying his best to sound civil.

“The one about the Miracles being designed as assassins,” a boy says incredulously.

“What?” Kageyama says. The three flinch and he realizes it came out sounding a bit like a snarl.

“It’s all over the internet, dude,” the other boy says. “And the News. People are saying the Miracles were created to be assassins and soldiers—that they _were_ assassins. They say they’ve killed a bunch of people.”

“That’s ridiculously stupid,” Kageyama says. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Whatever,” his classmate says, turning back to his friends, cutting Kageyama out of the conversation.

Kageyama shakes his head.

It _is_ the dumbest thing he’s ever heard.

*

Kageyama dismisses the matter almost entirely. Because, let’s face it, the fact that Hinata has superpowers is not as important as the fact that Hinata plays volleyball.

He isn’t even all that curious. He knows Yamaguchi is burning with questions, so are Tanaka and Nishinoya.

(“No one ask Hinata about Teiko,” Daichi had ordered one day, when he’d sent Hinata to get something from the storage room. Suga stood by him and looked disapprovingly at everyone, indicating that this was something the Third Years had discussed amongst themselves.

“Hinata didn’t want people to know, and it’s not his fault we know now. So if he doesn’t want to talk about it, we’re not going to ask him about it, _got it?_ ”

And the captain had looked so terrifying with this command that no one dared protest or defy.)

But Kageyama… doesn’t care. He figures, if Hinata wants to tell him, that’s fine. But he doesn’t need to know.

*

He doesn’t even think about the _other_ matter concerning Hinata until he offhandedly says, “You should stay over for the night” and Hinata freezes.

Then he thinks, _shit._

They’d been practicing for longer than everyone else, until Coach Ukai yelled at them to go home. Then Takeda-sensei reminded them that they had a test tomorrow and if they failed they’d have to make it up over the weekend, and they wouldn’t be able to play in the next match.

They’d had matched expressions of horror, and Hinata ended up at Kageyama’s house as they both frantically studied until it was so late it was officially early the next day.

Then Kageyama had said, “You should stay over for the night,” because Hinata looked like he was going to pass out and Kageyama’s mother had ordered Kageyama to make sure Hinata didn’t try to bike home. She’d already arranged things with Hinata’s parents.

Kageyama didn’t think twice about this arrangement (largely because he was focused on studying for the test) until Hinata froze and then Kageyama remembered.

Because, yeah. They’d made out that one time and then never talked about it.

But then Hinata just grins. “Sure Kageyama! I’m beat.”

*

And in the dark, with Hinata sleeping on a mat next to his, in his room, as they’re both physically and mentally exhausted, Kageyama forgets about Daichi’s order and drowsily asks, “Why don’t you ever talk about the other Miracles?”

“What do you mean?” Hinata says, sounding just as drowsy.

“You know them, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you talk to them?”

“No. I don’t want to.”

“Weren’t they your friends?” Kageyama’s not entirely sure why he wants to hear Hinata’s answer. It just seems odd. Hinata has lots of friends; he likes everyone and everyone likes him. He still regularly talks to his friends from middle schools (something that baffles Kageyama). So somehow, the weirdest thing part to Kageyama about the fact that Hinata has superpowers, if the fact that Hinata hasn’t reconnected with the other Miracles.

“No. Not really. I mean, I like ‘em well enough, I guess. But I wouldn’t call them friends.”

Kageyama nods, because that makes sense. Sort of. He expects to go to sleep soon, but then Hinata surprises him by continuing.

“I had a friend in Teiko. A Project named Black. He was my best friend. I miss him a lot. If he’d escaped, I’d track him down no matter what anyone said.”

Hinata sounds so sad. Kageyama doesn’t like Hinata sounding sad. It’s just _wrong_ —it goes against the natural order of things. “What was he like?”

“A lot like Kenma,” Hinata says. “Quiet, unnoticeable. But really smart! He observed people, like Kenma does. I bet he’d be a great setter.”

 And Kageyama scowls in the dark, because he doesn’t like that idea _at all._

“What happened to him?” he asks gruffly.

“He was like me, a failure,” Hinata says sadly. “So he’s probably been dead for a long time now.”

Kageyama jerks, and sits up. “What does _that_ mean?”

Hinata sits up, staring at Kageyama, blinking rapidly like he’s waking up from a dream. “Nothing,” he says quickly.

“Oi,” Kageyama says, and he grabs Hinata’s shirt (he’s not sure why. It just seemed natural to grab Hinata, hang on to him, make sure he wasn’t going to disappear, fly away.) “What are you talking—”

But Hinata just grins wide as he has some sort of revelation. He grabs Kageyama by the shirt, mirroring Kageyama’s hold, and then pulls him into a kiss.

And yeah. Kageyama’s not going to press the issue, not if they’re _kissing_ again. Having Hinata like this, warm and groping and entwined together; nothing’s worth stopping _this_ from happening.

When they break apart it’s because they both need to come up for air; they’re gasping and panting and utterly breathless.

And they’re both still exhausted. They still have a test tomorrow; still have a game to prepare for. This isn’t going any further than it already has and they both know it. (And at any rate, what seemed possible on a grassy hill in Saitama seemed very unlikely in Kageyama’s house, with his parents sleeping in the next room.)

But Kageyama has to _know_. So he asks one last question.

“Is this…OK? You don’t mind?”

Hinata looks at him like he’s crazy. “Are you kidding? This is amazing. Kissing you is almost as good as playing volleyball with you. Oh man, _Kageyama._ Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could do both at the same time?”

Kageyama thinks about it and then nods.

Yeah. That _would_ be pretty awesome.


	5. Chapter 5

Hinata’s still not entirely sure if he and Kageyama are dating or not.

He feels that if they weren’t dating _before_ , they’re probably not dating _now_ because nothing’s really changed except that sometimes they make out after practice is over.

But this doesn’t actually concern him all that much. He figures, whatever’s going on, they’re at least on the same page, and that’s all that really matters.

*

And things are good. Really good.

They’re winning their games, Karasuno knows he’s a mutant but they don’t care, he has Kageyama. Even his grades are the best they’ve ever been, now that Yachi helps him study regularly.

He’s incredibly happy with life and everything in it.

So of course, things start going wrong.

*

He comes home and doesn’t notice that his mom is quieter than usual. He doesn’t see the way she keeps looking at him, like she’s making sure he’s still there. His dad comes home and they have dinner. He talks a lot, Natsu talks a lot, and neither of them notices that their parents aren’t talking much at all.

He and Natsu watch TV together, and she goes to bed early. He’s pretty beat and thinks about doing the same, but then his parents come into the living room looking grave and his father says, “Shouyou, we need to talk.”

Hinata freezes. He has never encountered this situation before, but he’s pretty sure nothing good has ever come from parents saying, “We need to talk.”

And of course, the first thing he thinks about is the fact that he still hasn’t told his parents that Karasuno knows his secret. The second thing he thinks about is the fact that he also hasn’t gotten around to telling them he occasionally makes out with Kageyama (and _man,_ he hopes that’s what they want to talk about. It would be so much easier to tell his parents that he’s gay than tell them people know he’s a mutant. He’s sure they’d react much better to the gay. They actually like Kageyama.)

“Uhh…” he says, stalling for time.

“Shouyou, have you watched the News lately?” Sawako asks him, her voice gentle.

Hinata blinks. This doesn’t sound like it’s going to be about Kageyama or Karasuno. “No?”

Sawako bites her lip. She looks at her husband and Kousei still looks very grave. “Shouyou, the Miracles have been in the News a lot lately. There’s been a lot of…negative coverage.”

“What does that mean?” Hinata asks, feeling tense and wary and sick.

“It means…” Kousei flounders. He doesn’t know how to explain this to his son, who is sunshine and wonderful and who he loves very much. “People are voicing concerns about the Miracles going to public schools. They’re starting to say the Miracles are dangerous.”

Hinata does not say anything.

His parents have never _asked._ All they know is that Teiko created superpowered humans. All they know is that Teiko tried to kill him. All they know is that a lot of the Teiko scientists were imprisoned for performing illegal human experimentation.

But they never asked _why_ Teiko created him, and Hinata never told them.

Hinata hasn’t been paying attention to the News, he has no idea what people are saying about the Miracles.

But he has a pretty good guess.

“Well. They are. Dangerous.” Hinata looks down at his hands.

Kousei and Sawako look at each other. Hinata is their miracle, their child, the answer to the prayers. When they found him on the side of an untraveled road so long ago they didn’t ask _why;_ they only took it as fate. This is their son—why did it matter where he came from or how they found him? He was theirs.

“They might hold a Special Diet soon, questioning how the JSDF chose to handle things,” Sawako tells her son. “If it doesn’t go well... they might have to lock them up. The Miracles.”

The _other_ Miracles, she means.

“Obviously it won’t affect us,” Kousei says quickly. “You’re—you’ll be safe, Shouyou. We just thought—we just thought you should _know._ And you have to promise to be extra careful. It’s more important than ever that no one knows.”

Hinata flinches and hopes his parents didn’t notice.

“Maybe,” Sawako starts, “Maybe you shouldn’t play volleyball right now.”

“ _What?”_ Hinata exclaims. “How is that connected?”

Sawako looks miserable. “You’ve been winning a lot, Shou-kun. They film the games. If you go on to play in Nationals—it would just bring a lot of attention.”

“No, no way,” Hinata says. Not play _volleyball?_

“Just for now, Shou-kun,” Kousei pleads. “You’re only in your First Year. There will be other tournaments.”

“No there _won’t_ be! Not the same as this! This is our last chance!”

He means, the last time they will play with the Third Years. With Daichi and Suga and Asahi and Kiyoko. This is the last time it’s going to ever be _this_ team, _this_ Karasuno.

“Shouyou, I know it’s hard to understand right now, but there are more important things in life than volleyball,” Kousei says. “You have to think about the broader picture.”

Hinata clenches his fists because on the one hand, yes, he knows that, but on the other hand, volleyball is everything.

There is a silence that stretches on forever.

“Do you—” Sawako starts. She stops, appalled at the implications of her own question, but she presses on anyway, “Do you think the other Miracles are dangerous to the public?”

Hinata shrugs, a tad resentfully. He’s still stuck on _No volleyball,_ why should he answer their questions?

“Shouyou,” Kousei says sternly.

“I haven’t spoken to them in six years,” he says sullenly. “I don’t know what they’re like now.”

Kousei sighs. He wants to ask more questions, but he’s too much of a coward.

He’s terrified of the answers.

“I’m not quitting volleyball,” Hinata announces.

“Just… be careful, for now. Think about it. We’ll talk more about this later,” Kousei says.

“I’m _not_ ,” Hinata says. Because he’s not going to budge on this.

But his parents look just as resolved.

*

Hinata can’t sleep.

There’s too much to think about. He spent some time online to catch up on what people are saying and it only confirms the worst of his suspicions. Now he’s thinking about his mother’s questions— _do you think the others are dangerous?—_ and his own answer, _I don’t know._

Because they are, they _absolutely_ are.

But do they deserve to be _locked up?_ That’s the real question, and that’s what he doesn’t know.

For the first time, ever, Hinata wishes he knew who they were _now._ He looks them up online, finds a dozen different interviews with Yellow (and his modeling career, Jesus Christ, what the hell was that about?) and reads about how they all played basketball ( _Basketball._ Seriously. Why basketball? It’s such a lame sport. And they’re all so _tall_. What a waste of height. It’s so unfair.) But none of that helps him understand who they are now, and whether or not he should care if they’re imprisoned.

He misses Black.

Black would know what to do in this situation. Black always had a plan.

*

But he can’t talk to Black, so he calls Kenma instead.

They primarily communicate through emails and texts; Kenma is not a phone person, and Hinata respects that. But he needs to talk to someone, and Kenma is the only one who understands the situation fully.

“What should I do?” Hinata begs, after dumping an incorrect string of—they’re going to make me quit volleyball; I don’t know if they’re dangerous, are they dangerous? Should they be locked up? Will I be locked up? Volleyball, Kenma, volleyball!—that Kenma has patiently listened to the entire time.

“I’m not… sure there’s anything you _can_ do…” Kenma says.

“Don’t say that!” Hinata begs. “Come on, Kenma, you’re smarter than me! I need you to tell me what to do!”

“What do you _want_ to do?”

“Play volleyball!”

“And?”

“And—!” Hinata stops. What _does_ he want? “I just—I don’t know. Kenma, do _you_ think they’re dangerous?”

Kenma knows. Kenma knows better than _he_ does. He listens, desperate for an answer, to the silence on the other side of the phone as Kenma ponders his question.                     

“I think… I think they’re probably a lot like you, Shouyou.”

“They were _nothing_ like me!” Hinata snarls, his own viciousness surprising him. He tries to calm down, but he can’t. “They were _Successes._ Their situation was very different than mine! Teiko _killed me._ They were the chosen ones, the blessed ones. Teiko _loved_ them. You don’t—you don’t know what it was like, for the failed experiments. We weren’t the same at all.”

“Well…” Kenma says, and Hinata can hear the misery in his voice and he feels sorry for his outburst. “You wanted to leave Teiko.”

“Of course I did!”

“…So did they…”

Hinata falters. That wasn’t something he had considered.

They escaped. They escaped like he did. That means, despite being Successes, they’d wanted to leave just as badly as he did.

Of course they did. God, of course they did. Hinata thinks about his time there—all the things he’s actively tried to distance himself from over the past six years, all the things he’s tried to forget. For a second, he loses himself. He’s not Hinata Shouyou anymore, he’s GM-O394. He’s Orange.

*

There were fourteen Project Groups, one color Project per Generation.

They were Generation “Miracle,” the thirteenth Generation to reach viability. They were not friends, exactly, and they were not family.

But they were all each other had.

Miracle was the first Generation to have overwhelming Successful Projects: Blue, Purple, Green, Yellow, Red, Gray, Pink, Gold and Rainbow were all marked as Successes.

The rest were failures.

The Rainbow Miracle died first. That was when Orange learned what death even was.

White died—Orange remembers how she got sicker and sicker, every time she used her power. It was the first time he ever felt _lucky_. He might be a failure, like her, but at least _his_ abilities weren’t _killing_ him.

Gray was deemed obsolete and disappeared. Silver died in Room 101. Then Brown lost control of his power and caused the explosion. They lost Brown and Gold in that fire. One by one, the failures were weeded out, until it was just him and Black and the Successes.

“They’re going to kill us, Orange,” Black had said.

“They might not,” Orange had said. “People surprise you.”

Orange pitied the other Projects because they couldn’t see what he saw. He was the only one with enhanced vision, so only he could see there was a world out there.

He told them all they should leave, but only Black ever listened to him.

“Why do you assume that world is _better?”_ Yellow had asked.

“We can’t live out there,” Blue had said.

“It’s too dangerous out there,” Pink had said.

“We are not human,” Red had said, trying to reason with him. “And we could never live in the human world.”

Only Black had listened, but even Black didn’t have hope. “You dream too much, Orange,” he had said. “It is impossible for us to ever escape this place.”

*

But they _had_ escaped. Somehow, those guys came to their senses.

And all of the sudden, Hinata Shouyou is unbearably sad.

He thinks about what he had told Black, so many years ago.

“People are kinder than you know.”

And he’d been right. Since leaving Teiko, since becoming Hinata Shouyou, he has met nothing but kindness. His parents, his middle school friends, his Karasuno teammates, everyone he met playing volleyball.

He thinks about how wide his world has become: Kousei and Sawako, Natsu, Kageyama, Kenma, Yachi—there are so many people in his life that he loves. And so many people who love him. It proves the other Miracles were _wrong_ —there was a place in this world for human experiments.

And Hinata knows something now. “They can’t be locked up again.”

Kenma has sat through Hinata’s long silence, letting him think, letting him remember; Kenma has never been intimidated by silences, so he just held the phone to his ear through Hinata’s long pause and quietly let Hinata reach his own conclusion.

“I agree,” Kenma says. “I think… I think everyone’s suffered enough… I think they deserve a chance to make their own choices. But Shouyou… there isn’t anything _you_ can do.”

“But—!”

“And, I want _you_ to be free,” Kenma says, with more force than Hinata’s ever heard him use before. “You’re my friend, Shouyou, so selfishly, I only care about you. Please don’t do anything… rash.”

Hinata scowls, even though Kenma can’t see him.

“Your parents are right. If you go to Nationals, one of the other Miracles might recognize you. They could ‘out’ you.”

Hinata swallows. He closes his eyes and thinks about his options.

It doesn’t seem like there’s a way for him to keep volleyball.

*

In the morning, there is a silent war.

“I called Takeda-sensei and told him we don’t want you to play volleyball,” his mother announces. “For health reasons.”

Hinata’s nails dig into his palms. “No one who knows me is going to believe I’m sick.”

He’s never been sick in his life. One of the perks of being super human.

“They don’t need to believe it, they just need to accept it,” Sawako says, her voice firm. Hinata is stubborn, but his mother is stubborn too. She fears someone will take away her son, so she is determined to keep him safe, even if her son hates her for it.

Hinata doesn’t know how to disobey—he never has before.

His father had said, There’s more important things in life than volleyball.

He thinks of his response only later; he wishes he’d thought of it at the time: _There’s more important things in life than being safe._

They are at war, and Natsu picks up on that fact, even though she doesn’t understand what’s happening. She knows her family is unhappy, and she is unhappy. She presses up close to Hinata, reaching for his hand, unconsciously choosing her big brother’s side.

Kousei has the News on, and it makes him unhappy. They’ve announced that the Special Diet is definitely happening. They’re going to question the JSDF soldiers who brought in the other children; they’re going to question the other Miracles.

And what happens if it doesn’t go well? Everyone in Japan will be watching those answers. What if everyone decides they don’t like what they hear? What if they demand the Miracles to be put away?

Kousei looks at his son, sitting next to his daughter. He looks at his wife, pale with worry but determined,

He thinks about moving to Scotland.

*

The news reporter is interviewing random people in Tokyo about what they think about the Miracles.

“I don’t know…” a woman says. “They were created in a lab… they can’t possibly have _souls_ , right? They’re not human…”

“Could you please turn that off?” Sawako snaps at her husband.

“I want to hear it,” Hinata says, stubbornly.

“No, you don’t need to hear this trash,” Sawako informs him. “Please bring me your plate; it’s time for you to get ready for school.”

Hinata scowls at the remains of his breakfast. He gets up to bring his plate to his mother just as the news reporter switches to interviewing high school students.

It catches Hinata’s attention, only because the news reporter had said it was one of the schools a Miracle attended, but Hinata doesn’t remember (from when he looked them up, last night) which one of his former comrades went to Seirin.

“What do you think their true motive is for being at your school?” the reporter asks a tall, flustered red headed boy.

And then all of the sudden, someone else is there, standing in front of the taller boy, looking cold and fierce.

“All we have ever wanted to do is be free.”

Hinata drops the plate.

It falls from his hands, instantly shattering on impact, startling everyone.

“Shou-kun!” his mother admonishes.

Hinata feels his entire body grow cold, like he’s been flung into the icy sea. He thinks his heart actually stops. He can’t remember how to talk, how to move, how to breathe.

“Shou-kun?” Sawako asks, concern marring her voice.

He turns to face his mother, eyes wide, like he’s just seen a ghost.

He has just seen a ghost.

“ _That was Black,_ ” he says.

“Shouyou?” Kousei questions, turning off the TV and moving to his son.

His parents don’t know why this is important, because they never ask about Teiko, and he never tells them.

“Black is _alive.”_

This changes _everything._

*

Because if Black is alive, so much of what never made sense finally makes sense.

The others could have never escaped on their own. Never. The others couldn’t disobey the Teiko scientists (even Orange could not. In the end, it’s not like he escaped on his own. He had an opportunity and he took it.) The others lived in fear of Room 101 (as Orange lived in fear of Room 101) and in the end, it would have never occurred to the others to seek aid with humans.

But Black—Black would have. Black was sent to Room 101 over and over again and still he defied the scientists. Black was smart, smarter than anyone gave him credit for, he could have designed an escape plan. Black could do anything.

And Black wasn’t dangerous. This, Hinata was sure of, despite not seeing his friend in six years. Black would never hurt anyone.

_All we have ever wanted to do is be free._

Black wouldn’t have helped the others escape if he thought _they_ would harm anyone.

_All we have ever wanted to do is be free._

Hinata swallows. This meant that all along, the others really _were_ just like him. And even basketball—maybe they loved basketball the way he loved volleyball. Maybe they had parents, like he did, people who worried about them. Maybe they had siblings who looked up to them; maybe they had teammates who depended upon them.

Maybe they had a Kageyama—a partner, someone who didn’t care they were mutants, and wanted to stay by their side.

“I have to go,” Hinata says. “To school. I have to go to school now, sorry.”

And he grabs his school bag and wins out there door, barely hearing his parents’ exclamations as he goes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the conclusion, and people who have read "Don't Blink You'll Miss It" should recognize a few of the same scenes. I hope that's OK! There aren't that many and it's from a different POV, so it should read a little differently.

Sometimes Kageyama doesn’t see Hinata until practice, so it doesn’t occur to him that something’s unusual about today.

 _Usually_ they end up having lunch together, because usually they’re both hounding Yachi for tutoring during lunch and all three of them eat together. But sometimes Hinata gets swept up in conversations with his classmates and Kageyama doesn’t like to cling.

So when Hianta shows up to practice late (that is, three minutes after Kageyama, which would not ordinarily be considered late, except for Hinata that’s unheard of) Kageyama turns to see what’s wrong, and maybe gloat if everything is fine and Hinata’s just late.

The look on Hinata’s face stops him though; clearly, something _is_ wrong.

“Hinata!” Ukai yells. “You shouldn’t be here. Takeda-sensei told me your parents called.”

“What?” Kageyama demands. All of Karasuno stops to watch the exchange, because _what._

“Yeah,” Hinata nods his hand. “I know. But my parents are wrong. I’m fine.”

“Hinata-kun, if you aren’t well—” Takeda begins.

“What?” Kageyama says again.

“My mom got it wrong. I’m not sick.”

“ _Sick?_ ” Nishinoya exclaims. “Shouyou, are you sick?”

“I just said I wasn’t!”

“You don’t look sick,” Tanaka observes.

“I’m not! I’ll prove it!” Hinata definitely doesn’t look sick, even though something is clearly wrong.

“Hinata-kun,” Takeda says sternly. “If your parents have a reason they don’t want you to play volleyball right now, then as an educator, I have to support their decision—”

“ _What?”_ Kageyama exclaims.

Hinata sticks out his chin and stands straight. There is a terrifying look in his eye—if Kageyama was playing volleyball against Hinata right now, he has the sinking suspicion that he’d _lose_. Hinata looks ready to battle gods.           

 “My parents don’t want me to play volleyball because I’m a Miracle.”

All of Karasuno collectively does a double take—did he really just say that? Does he know he just said that out loud?—except Ukai and Takeda, who just frown in confusion.

Ukai laughs. “Ha ha, Hinata, very funny.”

And Kageyama reaches for Hianta because he knows what’s coming, he knows what Hinata’s going to do, and he desperately wants to stop him.

But he’s too late. Hinata glows orange and jumps. He launches himself into the air and bumps his head on the ceiling.

“Oh my God!” Ukai says. Takeda collapses to the floor, staring up disbelievingly.

Hinata descends and Ukai just says, “Oh my God” again.

“Shouyou! I thought you didn’t want anyone to know?” Nishinoya demands.

“Someone could have seen, Dumbass!” Kageyama shouts. Because school has just ended, there are still plenty of people walking outside the gym.

“Hinata-kun, is something wrong?” Suga asks.

“Wait, wait,” Ukai says. “Why do none of you look surprised?”

Everyone stares at him.

“ _You all knew?!”_ Ukai sputters.

“Everyone’s going to know soon,” Hinata says. “There’s going to be a Special Diet in three days, interviewing the Miracles. I’m going to be there. I’m going to tell everyone what I am.”

Kageyama grabs Hinata by his shirt collar and pulls him forward. _“What did you just say?”_

Hinata glares at him. “You heard me! I’m going to stand with the other Miracles! I just thought you guys should know that first!”

“Hinata, I’m not sure you’re thinking this through—” Daichi starts carefully.

“I have! I’ve spent all day thinking about it! I’ve never thought about anything so much in my life!”

Kageyama shakes him. “What is that going to do for them? How is you being there going to help the situation at all?”

“I don’t know!” Hinata yells back, “I just have to, OK?”

“No!” Kageyama shouts. “You _don’t_ have to! Damn it, how can you be so selfish?”

Hinata stills in his hands. And then he launches himself on Kageyama, knocking him to the ground, and hits him right in the face.

*

No matter how many times it happens, it always comes as a surprise when Hinata attacks him. Kageyama has never mastered the art of not pissing off Hinata.

 This time he’s angry too. This time, he wants to fight back, hit back, wrestle Hinata to the ground and make him submit.

“Selfish? You think this is _selfish?_ ” Hinata yells, “You bastard, you have no idea—”

Daichi and Asahi pull Hinata off of Kageyama and Nishinoya and Tanaka immediately move to restrain Kageyama, keep him from attacking like he so desperately wants.

“Both of you, calm down!” Daichi orders. “Hinata, this is your decision, and no one here has the right to change your mind. But you _do_ understand this affects more than just you, right?”

Hinata stops struggling. He slumps in Asahi’s hold and nods. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. That’s why I had to tell you guys first. I know this might mean expulsion from the tournament. And I _am_ sorry, but I’m not doing this for selfish reasons, I swear.”

 _No,_ Kageyama thinks. _That’s not what I meant at all._

But he’s never mastered the art of telling Hinata what he feels, either. It’s Kageyama’s fault—he knows it’s his fault. He’s never been able to explain himself to anyone. Most of the time, Hinata _gets_ it. In a way no one ever has before. Hinata and Kageyama speak the same language. But sometimes, sometimes it’s still not enough. Kageyama just doesn’t have the words.

“Please, if you could only explain it to us,” Suga says gently. “You never seemed to care much about the other Miracles before. Why do you have to do this for them?”

Hinata clenches his fists and he’s shaking like he still wants to pick a fight with someone, or maybe like he’s going to cry. He looks up but he doesn’t look at anyone in particular. He has a haunted expression on his face, like a war veteran’s.

_“Three years.”_

Everyone just looks at Hinata. Kageyama glances around and confirms that yes, it’s not just him. No one understands what Hinata’s talking about.

Hinata swallows. “They were in Teiko _three years_ longer than I was.”

Kageyama still wants to shout “So what?” because he still has no idea why any of that matters. He knows everyone else is just as perplexed as he is, so it’s not just him. But everyone remains quiet, because even if they don’t understand what Hinata’s talking about, they at least understand that there is something very painful beneath his words.

 “And maybe—maybe there’s nothing I could have done, to help them,” Hinata says. “I understand that, I do. I was just a kid. But it wouldn’t be _right_ , if only I got to be free _now._ If only I was safe. Whatever happens to them, it needs to happen to me too. Their fate and mine needs to be the same.”

Kageyama turns around and walks out the gym, because if he doesn’t, he might hit Hinata, and that wouldn’t help matters at all.

He wants to yell at the other boy again, “How can you be so selfish?” he wants to shake him and _make_ him realize.

Because maybe Hinata’s ready for the world to turn against him; maybe Hinata’s ready to fall on his sword.

But Kageyama isn’t. What if they _do_ lock Hinata up in some government facility, where Kageyama can never find him again? What’s Kageyama supposed to do _then?_ Doesn’t Hinata care _at all_ that the people who love him will have to watch him suffer?

*

Kageyama has no idea where he’s going until he ends up at Aoba Johsei. (He didn’t even know this is where he was going. Didn’t know where his feet were taking him. Except now he’s here, and he figures, yeah. This is where he needed to go.)

  It’s not that he thinks Oikawa is a better setter than he is. He’s pretty sure Oikawa is _not._ And it’s not just that Oikawa has beat him (so has Kenma, so has Akaashi, so have a lot of Tokyo champions) and he respects him for that.

If anything, it’s because once upon a time, Oikawa was his Senpai, someone he admired and someone he believes, even now, that he just _knows_ more than Kageyama.

That’s it. Oikawa understands things Kageyama doesn’t. So he supposes he’s here because he still believes Oikawa will be able to provide advice, some sort of wisdom Kageyama has yet to obtain.

“ _Tobio-chan?”_ Oikawa says when he sees Kageyama, clearly surprised.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Kindaichi asks, bristling.

Kageyama ignores him and focuses entirely on Oikawa. “I need to talk to you. Alone.”

Oikawa tilts his head and smiles. “Sure! This is too good to miss.”

“Oi!” Iwaizumi yells. “We have practice.”

“This won’t take long, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa sings. “Come, Tobio-chan, but this better be good.”

*

Kageyama follows Oikawa to a secluded spot, wondering what exactly he’s trying to ask.

“Well? Is this about Chibichan again?” Oikawa prompts.

“Yes,” Kageyama says.

“ _Really,_ Tobio-chan, you can’t just come running to me every time you have a problem! Well, you know my price! If you want my advice, you need to bow your head—”

Kageyama gets down on his hands and knees, dogeza style, and bows, “Please, please, I need your help.”

The seconds tick past, and Oikawa hasn’t said anything. Kageyama wonders if he’s taking another picture. He lifts up his head to see if Oikawa is paying attention.

Oikawa isn’t taking a picture. He has the strangest look on his face. For once, he isn’t smiling at his triumph over Kageyama. Oikawa looks very serious and says, “Tobio, what’s going on?”

Kageyama looks down. His hands are shaking. “Hinata—Hinata’s going to do something very dumb. And I can’t stop him, I know I can’t stop him. But—he could get _hurt_. Or—or something worse. I don’t know how to _help_ him.”

There’s another silence. Then, “Stand up,” Oikawa says gruffly. “You better explain everything. I’m going to text Iwa-chan and tell him I lied, it’s going to be awhile after all.”

*

Oikawa, strangely, takes the news that Hinata is secretly a mutant with a lot of grace. (Kageyama doesn’t think of this as betraying Hinata’s secret; if Hinata’s going to tell the world, it hardly seems to matter who know at this point). Oikawa raises his brows at the revelation but beyond that seems very nonchalant as Kageyama explains the rest of the situation.

“For God’s sake, Tobio-chan,” Oikawa says after Kageyama’s done. “They’re _not_ going to lock him up.”

“Really?” Kageyama says, hope easing some of the tension he’s been carrying. For some reason, if Oikawa says it, then Kageyama figures it must be true.

“He has friends and a family. The Japanese government could never imprison a high school First Year in that kind of situation for no reason. There’d be too much bad press.”

“Oh,” Kageyama says, slowly letting out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.

“Worst case scenario, he can’t play volleyball anymore, but they’d—”

“But that’s even worse!” Kageyama blurts out, anxiety returning full force.

Oikawa stops and shoots Kageyama an irritated look. “OK, you and I are going to have a little talk about your priorities—”

“I mean, I know it’s not _worse,_ ” Kageyama says scowling profusely, “But it’s just _as bad._ ”

Oikawa’s expression clearly says he’s still questioning his priorities, so Kageyama clenches his fists and tries to explain. “Hinata—Hinata’s like me. He _needs_ volleyball. It’s the most important thing. If they tell him he can’t play anymore, well… it’d be just like putting him in prison, OK? Maybe he’d be alive, but he wouldn’t be _free._ ”

“If he’s making the decision to ‘out’ himself now, then clearly there _are_ more important things to him than volleyball.”

“I know, I know,” Kageyama struggles. He thinks once again, how glad he is that he didn’t go to Aoba Johsei with the rest of his old teammates. Once again, he’s faced with the problem that he doesn’t have the words to explain himself—he doesn’t know the code that would make him understood. (Hinata misunderstands Kageyama sometimes, but he always, always understands the important things.) “But that’s just it—Hinata is sacrificing himself for this. And he knows it. He’s going to destroy his happiness and I can’t just stand by and _do nothing_ while he destroys himself.”

“Hmmm,” Oikawa muses. He mulls the situation over, and Kageyama figures Oikawa’s probably processing a lot of different things all at once.

“Just to be clear, _you’re_ not a mutant, correct?”

“What? No.” Kageyama wonders why people keep asking him that.

“Alright,” Oikawa nods, looking pleased. “I can’t say I fully understand why this is so important to you. But then again, maybe I do.” He tilts his head and regards his former kouhai. Kageyama once again gets the impression Oikawa understands more than he’s letting on. “But I have an idea.”

“Really?” Kageyama says.

“Tobio-chan, you should have at least learned _by now_ that volleyball is not a sport where just _one_ gifted person on a team makes a difference when it comes to winning a game.”

Kageyama scowls. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

Oikawa pats his head. “Still useless as ever; I’m telling you a universal truth about volleyball. Something I’m willing to bet every player in Japan believes.”

“What does _that_ mean?”

Oikawa rolls his eyes. “It means we have a lot of phone calls to make. And by ‘we’ I mean me, since God knows you’re not going to be any help.”

“Hey!” Kageyama has no idea what’s going on, but he knows he’s just been insulted.

He also thinks that maybe he’s been saved. So he let’s the insult slide.

*

It’s after school when Kenma gets the most terrifying text of his life.

He lies on the couch, head in Kuroo’s lap, playing a game while Kuroo watches TV. When his phone tells him he got a text from Hinata he pauses the game to read it.

_I’m going to attend the Special Diet. I’m going to tell everyone what I am._

Kenma sits up, causing Kuroo to turn off the TV and look at him in concern.

Kenma closes his eyes. He’s been watching the News lately with a lot of anxiety. All of the “anti-Miracle” sentiment that’s been going on makes him sick. He’d hoped Hinata would just lie low. When Hinata called him last night, he was hoping he’d convinced Hinata to just wait it out.

He opens his eyes and sees Kuroo’s concerned face.

And he knows that he too, has been hiding for far too long.

“Kuroo. There’s something I need to tell you, about me and Shouyou.”

Kuroo looks absolutely stricken before Kenma’s even said anything, and Kenma thinks about how that phrase might have sounded to his boyfriend and he scowls. “Idiot. Not _that_. It’s about my dad.”

“Your dad?” Kuroo says, surprise leaking out.

“Yeah,” Kenma looks down. He can’t meet Kuroo’s gaze and he’s gripping his phone so tight it hurts. “My dad was a monster, Kuroo.”

“Kenma,” Kuroo chides. “Has someone said something lately? You know—”

“No,” Kenma cuts in. “You need to listen. My dad did terrible things.”

And so Kuroo listens.

*

When Kenma stops talking he realizes he’s crying. He wipes snot on his sleeve and rubs his eyes.

Kuroo’s arms encircle him and pull him into Kuroo’s body, Kuroo’s warmth.

“Idiot. You idiot. How long have you been living alone with this?” Kuroo says into Kenma’s hair.

“Awhile,” Kenma says, muffled into Kuroo’s shirt. He’s getting snot and tears all over Kuroo, but that’s what long time childhood friends-turned boyfriends are for.

“You could have told me.”

“I know. I just—couldn’t say it out loud.”

Kuroo pulls back so he can look at Kenma’s face. There is a grave and almost deadly expression on his face. “Did he ever hurt _you?_ ”

Kenma shakes his head and Kuroo relaxes somewhat. “No. He was a good father. I still—I still care about him.”

The deadly aura around Kuroo dissipates and then he frowns. “What does this have to do with the Karasuno Chibi?”

Kenma sighs. “Yeah. I was getting to that…”

*

Kuroo can’t seem to move past the idea that Hinata’s a Miracle. “The _chibi?_ Karasuno #10, Hinata Shouyou? That guy?”

“Yes, Kuroo,” Kenma says, for the millionth time. “Hinata Shouyou, Karasuno #10. He’s a Miracle.”

“Are you _sure?_ ”

“Yes, Kuroo.”

“Not the First Year setter?”

“No. Well. Not that I know of.”

“Huh,” Kuroo says. He mulls this over. Then, offhand, he says, “Just for future reference, Kenma, ‘There’s something I need to tell you about me and Shouyou,’ is _not_ a good way to start a conversation with your boyfriend.”

“I know, I’m sorry. You’re still an idiot, though.”

“Fair enough,” Kuroo regards Kenma in slow concentration. “So? What do you want to do?”

Kenma frowns. “There’s nothing I _can_ do. I just—I just wish there _was._ I don’t like the fact that the public suddenly thinks the Miracles are dangerous. I don’t want them locked up again, any of them. But I especially don’t want _Shouyou_ to suffer any more because of my father’s sins.”

“No, you’re right. You shouldn’t either.” Kuroo pulls out his cell phone and starts furiously typing.

“Uh… who are you texting?”

“The team. And Bokuto. And Daichi.”

“Uh… why?”

“Trust me,” Kuroo grins.

And Kenma does.

*

The night before the Diet is supposed to take place, Hinata shows up at Kageyama’s door unexpectedly. They haven’t really talked since that day; Hinata hasn’t been coming to practice and they don’t study together anymore. They meet in the front yard, just as Kageyama closes the door behind him. He stares at Hinata, wondering if this is a hallucination.

“I’m going to leave for Tokyo soon,” Hinata announces at Kageyama’s doorstep. “I told my parents I was studying at your house.”

“So why are you actually here?” Kageyama asks, his scowl deepening.

Hinata shrugs. “I guess I just wanted to say good-bye.”

Kageyama does his best to remain very still. _Don’t yell at him,_ he tells himself. _Don’t hit him and don’t yell at him._

“Can you just…” Kageyama swallows, realizing he still sounded angrier than he intended. “Just… why?”

Hinata smiles sadly, for once actually getting what Kageyama was trying to say. “Black’s alive.”

“Your friend?” Kageyama asks. Hinata nods. Kageyama falls silent and feels sick. _Is he so important to you? Is he worth throwing everything away? Throwing volleyball away? Throwing_ me _away?_

It is insane to be jealous over someone he’s never met, someone Hinata hasn’t spoken to in six years.

And yet he is.

“That really changes things?”

“It changes everything,” Hinata says simply. “I always kinda wondered myself, you know? If maybe the Miracles really _were_ dangerous. But if Black’s out there, then I know for sure they’re not a threat to anyone.”

Kageyama is miserable and confused because he still has no idea what Hinata’s talking about.

“Hey, Kageyama?” Kageyama turns to look back at Hinata and he’s caught off guard as Hinata’s lips meet his own. The kiss is quick and furious and Hinata pulls back smiling. “Thanks for volleyball. I just—wanted you to know that it meant a lot.”

Kageyama catches Hinata’s face and kisses him again, practically attacking the other boy with his lips. They grope at each other angrily, desperately and neither of them put any thought into the fact that they’re standing in front of Kageyama’s house where anyone could see them. Kageyama bites at Hinata’s lips when he pulls away. “You’re such a dumbass. I hate you so much. How dare you.” How _dare_ Hinata come here to say good-bye?

Kageyama grabs Hinata’s hand and pulls. “Come on. We’re leaving.”

“Eh?” Hinata says, blinking in confusion. “Where are we going?”

“Karasuno. There’s a bus waiting for us.”

“What?”

Kageyama stops pulling and looks down at Hinata. “We’re going with you.”

“We?” Hinata says, still not getting it.

“ _Karasuno_ , aren’t you listening? Come on, Dumbass. We’re late. I was supposed to come get you.”

*

Hinata stares at the crowd waiting for them in front of Karasuno in dumb wonder. He looks at Kageyama for an explanation and Kageyama feels smug; even if, strictly speaking, this had been Oikawa’s idea.

“I hear Chibichan is a mutant,” Oikawa says as he approaches them with a shark like smile.

“Uh…” Hinata says, intelligently.

“Can you really fly?” Moniwa from Date Tech asks.

“No, I can only jump high,” Hinata says automatically.

“What? That’s disappointing,” the Johzenji Captain says. “Can we see it?”

Hinata frowns. “What are you all _doing_ here?”

“We’re here for you,” Daichi says, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “If you’re going to the Diet, we’re here to have your back.”

 Hinata continues to stare at the crowd.

It’s not just the entire Karasuno team—it’s everyone they’ve ever played against in the Miyagi Prefecture: Aoba Johsei, Wakutani South, Date Tech, Tokonami, Kakugawa, Johzenji, Ougiminami. Each school comes with a bus to take them to Tokyo, where the Special Diet will be held in the afternoon. Hinata stares and stares like he didn’t know so many people in the world even existed. His eyes are wide and he seems eerily quiet, like the words have been shocked out of him.

“So come on, #10!” someone from Ougiminami yells. “We want to see you fly!”

And then Hinata grins. He glows orange and he jumps.

It’s not flying. Hinata’s explained that, over and over again.

But it’s still one of the most amazing thing’s Kageyama has ever seen.

*

It’s a long bus ride. They leave at night and Hinata sits next to Kageyama.

“Thanks,” Hinata says.

“It was Oikawa’s idea,” Kageyama grunts.                   

“Still. Thanks.”

They’re holding hands. It’s dark, and most of Karasuno has fallen asleep. There’s always been a line when they’re around others—who they are as setter and spiker is usually kept apart from who they are as a couple. (If “couple” is even the right word. Kageyama’s still not sure _what_ they are.)

It’s dark, and their hands are low between them, and no one would really see unless they were standing over them.

But Kageyama thinks maybe it doesn’t matter if people see, now.

*

“There’s a surprise waiting for you when we get to Tokyo,” Daichi had said. And when the buses pull up Kageyama can see them waiting: Nekoma, Fukurodani, Ubugawa and Shinzen, the Fukurodani Academy Group of the Kanto Region.

“Kenma!” Hinata shouts. He runs up to the Nekoma setter. Hinata doesn’t actually look all that happy to see him.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Kenma asks.

“I’m pretty sure I don’t,” Hinata admits. “But I have to. But Kenma— _you_ don’t have to be here!”

“I know. But this is something I have to do, too,” Kenma smiles weakly and it’s only then that Kageyama makes the connection to “Kozume.” He remembers a Kozume Yuuta, imprisoned for what he’d done in Teiko.

“Enough talking! Chibi, can you fly? I want to see you fly!” Bokuto yells.

“I can jump!” Hinata yells back.

“We don’t have time for this, we’re going to be late to the Diet,” Suga says.

“Awww,” Bokuto pouts.

Hinata just grins and glows orange.

“That is so awesome!” Bokuto yells, after Hinata comes back down. “Do it again!”

“Bokuto-san, there is a time pressure,” Akaashi says.

“Can you lift people? Can you lift me?”

“ _Bokuto._ ”

And the volleyball players are laughing, high on wonder and excitement. Because Hinata is amazing, a miracle on earth, and everyone, everyone wants to play volleyball with him.

“Guys, the Diet is starting,” Kenma says. “We’re going to be late.”

*

They’re late.

It’s not easy to coordinate twelve high school volleyball teams and get them all to the hall where they’re holding the Diet. There’s also a huge crowd in front of the building and they have to muscle their way to the front.

Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Nekoma’s Yamamoto are all in front with foghorns yelling, “Make way! Make way! Very Important Volleyball Players, coming through! Make way!”

(Kageyama is not sure where they got the foghorns. It’s startling enough that people do, in fact, make way.)

Kenma has been watching a livestream of the Diet in progress on his phone. Whatever it is that’s going on does not make the setter happy. He looks increasingly distressed, which makes Kageyama increasingly distressed.

“You can’t come in here,” the guards out front say when they reach the building. “The Diet’s already in progress.”

“I have business in there!” Hinata yells. “This concerns me too!”

“Young man, I highly doubt you’re opinion is necessary to these proceedings.”

Hinata glows orange. “Wanna bet?”

*

 

They burst through the doors, Hinata standing in the front.

“Who _are_ you?” The person in charge demands.

Hinata slams his hands on the rail that separates those being questioned and those watching.

“I am Hinata Shouyou. Karasuno First Year Volley Club Number Ten, middle-blocker. Designation GM-O394, also known as ‘Orange.’ Teiko failed experiment. And I’m here to defend my humanity.”

The crowd erupts in loud befuddlement. Everyone has some startled exclamation or disbelief they need to voice and everyone talks at once. The person in charge tries very hard to recapture their attention.

Kageyama looks at the other Miracles. All of them are staring at Hinata, their shock clear on their faces. They look like they’re seeing a ghost.

“Young man, are you claiming to be an eighth Miracle? Because no one informed us that there were _more_ of you.”

“No one knew. I escaped Teiko six tears ago, and I’ve been living a ‘normal’ life all this while, not a threat to anyone. I’ve been living with humans and playing volleyball with them—”

“In _official_ games? Against normal students?” the person in charge hones in on this tidbit and Kageyama winces. He’s not alone amongst the Karasuno team: it’s what they were all afraid of—people in charge declaring Hinata unfit to play in games.

“It doesn’t give me as many advantages as you think!” Hinata says hotly, like he’s told them all, over and over again.

“Oh yeah, Hinata sucks at volleyball,” Tsukishima chimes in, “His serves and receives are crap, he can’t actually block all that well, and even his spikes are—”

“Oi! Tsukishima!” Hinata’s outrage momentarily derails from his task at hand.

“Just trying to help prove your point,” Tsukishima smirks.

“Help met out a little _less!_ ”

The crowd chuckles at the exchange, almost nervously. They seem confused by how normal the interaction seems. A tension that had been in the room starts to disappear.

Oikawa takes this opportunity to step forward and address the crowd, “Anyone who has ever played against Chibichan will tell you that Karasuno is a great team, but not a superhuman one. And everyone who has ever played Karasuno is here to testify to that.” He motions to the volleyball players around them. Kageyama is impressed once again with Oikawa’s ability to command a crowd.

“That is not the issue here,” the person in charge says, “You are sidetracking the main problem.”

“You can’t lock up the other Miracles,” Hinata says. “If you do, you have to lock me up too.”

Something breaks inside of Kageyama. Intense fear courses through his body and he knows he can’t talk well, he knows he can’t get his words across the same way that Oikawa can, and he certainly didn’t come here to talk today because he knows that would only make things worse. But at the sudden terror at the easy way Hinata says “You have to lock me up too” he finds that he’s glaring at everyone and speaking.

“And if you lock up Hinata, you have to lock up everyone here. Because Hinata’s the most human out of all of us.”

“No one is being locked up,” the person in charge says crossly, and something eases inside Kageyama, but not by much. “We are _trying_ to find out whether or not you’re _dangerous_. And anyway, how do we even know you’re a Miracle?”

Kageyama and those immediately flanking Hinata duck before he even starts to glow.

Hinata lands in front of the person in charge and the Miracle who was in the process of being questioned. He glares defiantly.

“Then ask me anything. I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

*

Kageyama can’t help but marvel at how relaxed Hinata appears. Hinata cowers in front of stronger volleyball players: he gets intimidated easily and he has never fully stopped being a nervous wreck before games.

It’s taken Kageyama awhile, but eventually he realized that the stronger the opponent was, or rather, the more present the danger was, the calmer Hinata became. Hinata didn’t cower before Ushijima and as soon as he starts playing, all fear disappears.

Now, with the whole wide world watching, the stakes have never been higher and Hinata is fearless. He stands at the podium where the interviewers are supposed to stand and he looks ready to take on the world.

The various volleyball players cram into the seats of the watchers. Most everyone finds a place amongst the basketball players who came to support _their_ Miracles.

Karasuno flocks to the players wearing orange jumpsuits, almost like the color had called to them as a beacon.

“You can sit here by me,” a black haired boy with grey eyes tells Kageyama, patting the spot next to him. Kageyama does so, feeling awkward and cramped next to so many bodies.

“It’s nice to have more allies,” a Third Years tells Daichi when he sits down next to him. Kageyama’s willing to bet he’s the Captain of this basketball team—he has a “Captain” sort of vibe.

“How’s our side doing?” Daichi asks as he settles down.

“Not great,” the basketball captain says. “Our guys are coming across too frightening.”

Kageyama looks back at the other Miracles. They’re all too tall and muscular and intimidating. Hinata doesn’t look like them at all; if he hadn’t jumped nearly twenty feet earlier, no one would believe he was the same as them.

But people seem to like Hinata. As the interviewer asks Hinata a few preliminary questions, Hinata draws a few more chuckles from the crowd. He is small and bright and people can’t help but watch him and smile.

The interviewer does not look happy. There are people on the other side of that rail that clearly do not like Hinata’s interruption, because these people want the Miracles to look like monsters. It’s then that Kageyama realizes that despite what the person in charge said, there are people here who _do_ want to imprison the Miracles.

And no matter what reassurances Oikawa gave, Kageyama feels sick, because what if they _do_ lock up Hinata?

We’re supposed to stand on top of the world together, Kageyama thinks. There’s still so many things we haven’t done, so many volleyball games we still need to play.

(They still haven’t had sex yet. Compared to the volleyball they still haven’t played, this is a minor issue, but Kageyama thinks about this and files it away under “Things to Do with Hinata” right after beat Shiratorizawa and win Nationals.)

He doesn’t know what he’s going to do if they take Hinata away from him.

The interviewer’s face hardens, and she looks like she’s ready to slit someone’s throat. In the lowest voice imaginable, she asks, “Hinata-kun, answer me once and for all: Did Teiko train you to be killers?”

Kageyama blinks, taken aback by the question. Is that _really_ what’s at stake? Are they really worried about lab-created assassins? It sounds so absurd, the stuff of urban legends. He wonders how the woman could look at Hinata and ask that question with a straight face.

But Hinata’s whole manner shifts. It’s the same aura he has while playing a game against a really strong opponent: that dangerous demeanor that startles players older, stronger, and taller than he is.

His next words silence the entire room.

“What Teiko did was hurt us, over and over again.”

*

Kageyama thinks, for a second, that he misheard. The entire room remains suspended on a fragile thread of silence and disbelief.

Hinata points to the other Miracles and he continues talking. “They electrocuted Black every time he smiled or cried, they whipped Purple when he didn’t do what they wanted, they broke Blue’s legs once when he ran away too far.” Then he puts a hand to his heart and says, “They tried to kill me and left me in a garbage heap to die.”

Kageyama sucks in his breath. Beside him, Yachi starts to cry.

“They beat us and starved us and locked us up in tiny boxes. You can’t lock us up again. You can’t.”

_He was a failure, like me, so he’s probably dead right now._

_Three years. They were in Teiko three years longer than I was._

_I was a failed Project._

So many times. Kageyama could have asked, so many times. But he didn’t ask. He hadn’t _wanted_ to ask.

He looks around to see if _anyone_ knew, only to be met with the same questioning glances. Suga and Tanaka are sobbing, like Yachi. Kiyoko has her hand over her mouth, as if she might puke, or scream. There are a lot of sobbing people in this room, volleyball players, basketball players, and random bystanders alike.

Kageyama zeroes in on Kenma’s face. Nekoma’s setter is the only one who remains passive and unresponsive. He knew. He must have known.

“I am not an assassin,” Hinata says, “I’m a volleyball player.”

There are more questions after that, but it’s clear to everyone in the room that the opponents have lost.

After the force which is Hinata, no one dares suggest the Miracles aren’t human.

*

Nishinoya and Tanaka are the first to run up and jump on Hinata after the Diet is over. Karasuno descends on their middle-blocker in swarm.

It seems everyone wants to be near Hinata. Volleyball players, basketball players, Miracles—everyone surrounds Hinata like he’s the sun and everyone wants to shine in his light.

Kageyama wants to be near Hinata—of course he wants to be near Hinata, he always wants to be near Hinata—but he doesn’t know how to approach him. Even if he could make his way through the crowd, and that’s never been something he’s good at, he doesn’t know what he could say in this moment. He wants to celebrate with him, but Kageyama has never known what to do in a celebration.

He also feels voided by his own guilt and sense of uselessness.

As he watches Hinata smile wide, laughing and cheering with everyone who came to support him, he thinks, _They hurt you. I didn’t know they hurt you, and I should have. I should have asked._ And he just can’t picture it—he can’t imagine anyone looking at Hinata and trying to hurt him. What kind of monsters could hurt Hinata?

He can’t help but feel that he doesn’t have the right to celebrate with Hinata now, not when he should have known or asked or done anything that a normal human would have thought to do with—

“Kageyama!”

Hinata’s voice rings out amongst the cheering, and then the boy is running and jumping. Kageyama reaches out and catches him just as Hinata slams against his body.

And then, in front of volleyball players, basketball players, Miracles, JSDF soldiers, and probably a million TV reporters broadcasting this Nation wide, Hinata kisses Kageyama full on the mouth.

“Dumbass!” Kageyama yells when they break apart, blushing furiously.

Hinata just grins, like he doesn’t care about anything. “Kageyama, they’re not going to lock me up! They’re not going to lock up anyone! Isn’t that great?”

Kageyama instinctively tightens his hold around Hinata’s body.

“Yeah,” he says, finally relaxing as people make catcalls around them, “Yeah, that’s pretty great.”

And he thinks that no matter what else happens, he’s still going to have Hinata, and he’s still going to have volleyball, and as long as he still has those two things, everything is going to be fine.


	7. A Series of Epilogues

Epilogue One

“Wow, you’re tiny,” Purple drawls, patting Hinata on the head. “Did you grow up at all after leaving Teiko?”

“I did!” Hinata says hotly, batting the hand away.

Volleyball players, basketball players, and JSDF soldiers are all in a park, celebrating their victory with pizza and a series of games made up of an intense match up of the two sports.

Hinata keeps waiting for some sort of repercussion. Everyone seems happy with the way the Diet turned out, but Hinata has just outed himself to the world and he still has no idea if he can still play volleyball. He’s happy that he and the other Miracles are not going to be locked away in a secret government facility somewhere, but he can’t be too excited until he finds out if he can still play volleyball.

Still. It’s surprisingly nice to be around the other Miracles again. His Generation. His long lost brothers (and sister). He’d thought he never wanted to see them again, but he’s glad he did.

 “Thank you again for what you did, Hinata-kun,” Black says quietly at his side.

Hinata supposes he should get used to calling him “Kuroko Tetsuya” now. Kuroko is just as quiet and expressionless as Hinata remembered. But he’s older now, with a sadness that lingers about him even during this time of celebration. Hinata thinks about those three years he was in Teiko longer than Hinata was and figures it must have been an unimaginable horror. Those three years, and the three years that followed have created a difference that Hinata can’t begin to understand.

They are not Orange and Black anymore. They are strangers named Hinata and Kuroko. They live in different prefectures, play different sports, and might as well live in different worlds. Under ordinary circumstances, these two would have never met.

“I wish you had come forward sooner,” Kuroko says.

Hinata winces. “I would have. If I’d known you were alive, I absolutely would have. I just, I don’t know—I just didn’t think you could be. I guess I always thought some other Projects must have escaped, along with the rest of these guys. Black—”

“It is alright. I do—I do understand.” Kuroko swallows, and Hinata is relieved to discover that he still knows when his friend is trying not to cry, even if his expressionless manner never changes. “I am very glad you are alive, Hinata-kun.”

Hinata smiles, because the feeling is absolutely mutual. He flicks his eyes over to where Kageyama stands next to a tall redheaded boy. Hinata remembers the boy from TV, that day he found out Black was alive, and he says, “Hey Bl- Tetsuya, is that your boyfriend?”

Kuroko looks to where he points and says, “Yes.”

“Whaaaat?” Purple says. “No way, Kurochin, when did that happen?”

“Strictly speaking, it has not yet,” Kuroko replies mildly. “I do not believe Kagami-kun realizes we are dating. This will change soon.”

Hinata laughs because he sorta knows how that goes too. He flicks his eyes back to Kageyama. He thinks it _would_ be like Kageyama to stand back during a celebration even when he has more right than anyone to celebrate. Hinata’s glad when Green’s friend drags Kageyama into a game of Volley-Basketball.

“Hinata-kun… how _are_ you still alive, if you do not mind my asking?”

Hinata grimaces and he looks back to Kuroko and says, “It’s kind of a long story. I’ll tell you about it later. ‘Cuz we’re going to see each other a lot from now on, right?”

Kuroko searches his gaze and nods. “Yes. That is correct.”

*

The truth is, Hinata still doesn’t know why he’s alive.

He knows he shouldn’t be. He knows _something_ must have gone wrong on Teiko’s part. And he knows something or someone must have interfered with his death, otherwise he would have never woken up.

But he doesn’t know why and he probably never will.

He figures that’s OK. He might not ever know what initially saved him, but he knows every reason since then regarding why he’s still alive.

It’s because of Hinata Kousei and Sawako. Because of Natsu and because of volleyball. It was meeting Kageyama and Kenma and joining the Karasuno volleyball club. It was everyone who ever loved him; everyone who was ever kind. These people saved him, over and over again, and that’s _his_ story; that’s what saved him and that’s why he’s still alive.

It’s the story he’ll tell Black when he sees him next. A love story about kindness and fate.

*

 

Epilogue Two

When he comes home after a long day and an even longer bus ride, Kousei and Sawako are waiting for him.

He braces himself for their wrath—he knows it was cowardly to sneak out in the middle of the night, not warn them about what he was going to do.

He braces himself for their wrath or worse, their disappointment, but instead they see their son and immediately surround him. They envelope him, pulling him close; they sob into his shoulder and tell them how proud they are that he’s their son.

And Hinata starts crying too; he finally allows himself to think about how terrified he’d been that he was going to lose these people.

He thinks about what it would have done to them if he’d been locked up and he remembers Kageyama’s question, “How can you be so selfish?” and he finally gets it. So much more than volleyball had been at stake, and he’s crying because he’s glad, and thankful, that he came back to his parents’ arms.

*

And later, much later, after a series of physical tests conducted by very efficient looking people, Hinata gets the news that he can still play volleyball.

He gets a text from Kuroko the same day: they’re even changing the rules for the basketball players. The officials declared that the Miracles are naturally physically gifted but not unnaturally so: they’re no more athletic than the average high school sports prodigy.

Hinata shares this news with Kageyama and Kageyama grins in that terrifying way of his.

“So we get to stand on top of the world together after all,” Kageyama says.

“Of course!” Hinata says.

He kisses his boyfriend, his setter, his partner, and thinks about how miraculous life can be.

*

 

Epilogue Three

_The woman knew she’d lost as soon as she named him in her mind._

_"You must_ never _give them names,” Dr. Kozume had told them all. “You must never mistake them for people. Make no mistake, they are little better than the mice or sheep you would use in an experiment.”_

_And it used to be easy to think that way. The early Projects didn’t look quite human, didn’t come out quite right. But the more they did this the better they got at it, and then the Projects started to look a lot like children and it was so easy to forget that they were not._

_It was worse after her sister had a baby. She had never wanted children herself; she couldn’t stand children most days. She was an intelligent woman and she wanted to leave a legacy besides just motherhood. She’d thought her sister was the same way, until the baby was born, and all of the sudden she was an Aunt and the Projects looked like children._

_She’d asked Dr. Kozume once, if he ever had any trouble. She’d met his son at a party once; a solemn little boy who’d been shy around so many new people. “Isn’t it hard for you when you have a son their age?”_

_“It is because of Kenma that it is not hard,” Dr. Kozume had said. “Kenma is an amazing child, perfect in a way only naturally born humans can be. I could never mistake these Projects for children when I compare them to my son.”_

_And how odd, considering he’d put his own DNA into the_ _Orange_ _Threes. So had she, so had a dozen other scientists on staff. She didn’t think twice at the time—they’d needed human DNA, why shouldn’t they get it from themselves? They used animal DNA as well, so it didn’t seem like it would be a problem—it’s not like these children who weren’t children were_ hers.

_But 394, he was different, different than all the other Projects she’d ever seen. He smiled and laughed not matter what; he asked questions and he made friends with the staff workers and he never gave up, no matter what test they put him through; even when it was clear he wouldn’t meet the standard for Success, he never gave up trying, even when so many other Projects did._

_She started calling him ‘Hikari’ in her mind because he was like light and after that she knew she was fucked._

_When they marked him down for death, she knew she couldn’t do this anymore. Kozume wanted to scrap him; kill him and dissect him for the betterment of future Projects. And she couldn’t. She just couldn’t._

_So she handed Kozume a syringe with only half the required dose to be lethal for Projects. She swapped the tags that slated 394 for ‘dissection’ with ‘disposal’ so to give him a chance. He could wake up and leave. She didn’t know if he did; she didn’t know if he escaped, there was no way she could check without raising suspicions._

_And when a suitable time had passed, she quit her job._

_She moved out of_ _Japan_ _and she did everything she could to put Teiko behind her. She traveled the world like she could outrun her sins._

_And when the seven Projects escaped (Generation Miracle—it was always Generation Miracle, they were always going to be the Generation that turned everything upside down) she watched the following trials and wondered when the authorities would come for her._

_Not everyone was arrested. Dr. Kozume must have been the chosen scapegoat, he’d been in charge of the_ _Orange_ _Threes and the_ _Orange_ _Threes had never produced a Success. That’s how she knew it had been rigged—only the scientists in charge of the unsuccessful Projects were persecuted. The_ _Orange_ _Three leaders, the Black Fours, the White Tens—those who were never successful were offered up for prosecution like sacrificial lambs._

_She’d waited for her name to appear, but it never did. (All the more proof that those in charge of Teiko were still very much in power. They were hiding, biding their time, but still out there.)_

_When she finally came home to_ _Japan_ _she got a job at a research facility in_ _Tokyo_ _(a real one, this time, on the legitimate side of the law) and visited her sister over the holidays and got to know her niece._

_She watched the Special Diet—of course she did, how could she not?—and her heart broke. Because there he is, her Hikari, 394 alive after all. (Hinata Shouyou, she thought, was the perfect name for him.) She started to cry—something she hadn’t done in decades._

_And when the cameras span over the crowds she saw a familiar face, wearing the same black tracksuit as Hinata Shouyou._

_Her immediate thought was that she saw_ wrong. _There’s just no way, it would be_ too _coincidental._

_She went to visit her sister anyway, a few months after the controversy had died down._

_Her sister was very much the same; a blunt, forthright business woman. But her niece had changed somewhat since she’d last seen her; she seemed more sure of herself._

_She spoke to her niece after dinner, while her sister was away. “Hitoka-chan, do you really go to school with the new Miracle?”_

_“Hinata-kun?” she smiles. “Yeah! He’s in the volleyball club with me.”_

_The woman loathed the idea of coincidence, especially coincidences this large. “Is he your friend?”_

_"Yes!” Her niece lowers her voice, “Auntie, promise you won’t tell mom?”_

_“Naturally,” she replied, because what good was being an Aunt if you can’t be a confidante?_

_“He saved my life.”_

_“Seriously? Metaphorically or literally?”_

_“Both, I guess. I got caught in a burning building, and he jumped up to save me! It was like a shoujo manga! Or, or, a superhero action one, I guess.”_

_“Do you like him?” she asked, mentally trying to calculate how much of her DNA was in Hinata Shouyou and if it would really be considered incest if he dated her niece._

_Her niece blushed bright red and stammered. “Of—of course not! Not that way! Hinata-kun likes boys! And I, um, don’t.”_

_The woman snorted out laughter. “That’s how you come out to me? Really?”_

_“Don’t tell mom,” she said quickly._

_“You think she’ll disapprove?”_

_“No, I just don’t want to tell her! She’ll want to meet my girlfriend and I would die!”_

_The woman laughed, and they move away from the topic._

_Inwardly, she still cannot accept the coincidence. That the boy who was the closest thing she would have to a son would meet the girl who was the closest thing she would have to a daughter. No, more than that. The boy she saved would later grow up to save her niece._

_She was a scientist, and she did not believe in fate._

_But for a brief second, she was sure it must exist. A force greater than the Teiko scientists could ever imagine at work._

_She was not ready to meet the boy; maybe she never would._

_Someday she will have to answer for her sins._

_She will let fate decide the day._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who left comments and kudos! And thank you everyone who read to the end. I'm so grateful people enjoy my stories, and you guys are the best.

**Author's Note:**

> I am so bad at judging what is considered "mature content" so I have a habit of rating my stories as "mature" just to be on the safe side, but I honestly don't think this would rate much more than PG-13 in terms of content. If you read "Don't Blink You'll Miss It" then you already know what the darker elements are, and this one is actually (as a whole) lighter than that one.
> 
> But, if you haven't read that one, I will say this story references severe psychological/physical abuse (and death) of children, although I don't think it's ever "graphic" and it's pretty in line with what happened in the show Dark Angel. 
> 
> Actually, the first chapter (opening scenes) are probably the darkest the story ever gets, so if those are OK, then nothing else should be too upsetting. But the opening scenes might be upsetting. Just saying.
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading! Kudos and comments always warm my heart. And if you ever want to talk about anime, I'm over at umisabaku.tumblr.com
> 
> Again, I hope you enjoy! =) Sorry for talking so much in the notes.


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